Curried Beef Stew

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cookieee

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Here is what we had for dinner last night. DH thought it was excellent, I just gave it a good rating, a little too hot for me. lol

RAGHAVAN IYER-"660 CURRIES"

Curried Beef Stew with Potatoes, Shallots and Malt Vinegar
(Goan Gosht Curry)

1 lb. boneless beef (chuck, or stew meat) cut into 1" cubes
1 tsp. cayenne
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
8 oz. russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1" cubes,
and submerged in a bowl of
cold water to prevent browning
2 TB. canola oil
4 green or white cardamom pods
2 fresh or dried bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks (each 3" long)
4 oz. shallots, thinly sliced
2 tsps. coriander seeds, ground
2 tsps. cumin seeds, ground
1 can (13.5 oz.) unsweetened coconut milk
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes
1/4 cup malt vinegar
2 tsps. coarse kosher or sea salt
2 TB. finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
and tender stems for garnishing

1. Toss the beef in a medium-size bowl with the cayenne and turmeric. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 30 minutes or as long as overnight, to allow the spices to flavor the meat. (The turmeric does tenderize the beef, so the longer you marinate it, the more tender the meat curry.)
2. Drain the potatoes and pat them dry with paper towels.
3. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cardamom pods, bay leaves and cinnamon sticks and cook until they sizzle and are aromatic, 5 to 10 seconds. Toss in the beef, shallots and potatoes. Stir-fry until the beef is seared and the shallots and potatoes are lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
4. Sprinkle in the cumin and coriander and continue to stir-fry for about 2 minutes.
5. Pour in the coconut milk, tomatoes with their juices, vinegar and salt. Stir once or twice to deglaze the skillet, releasing any collected bits of spice and shallots. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally and gently, until the beef cubes are very tender when cut with a fork, the potatoes are tender but still firm and the sauce is thick, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.
6. Sprinkle with the cilantro and serve. Serves 6

If you like, discard the cardamon pods, bay leaves and cinnamon sticks before you serve the curry.
 
I bought that book for Xmas - unbelievably good! The recipes are well-explained and a lot of them adapted to Western palates.
If it was too hot, use less cayenne next time.
 
Ha Ha DH DID cut back a lot on the cayenne, but the older I get, the less heat I can handle.

Glad to know someone else has that book. Have you tried anything that you would recommend?
 
I'm finding recently I can hardly take the heat at all. Drives me nuts when I have to halve the measures of even my beloved Harissa and Sambal Olek - :(

But I've copied this recipe anyhow! ;) and it's on my to do list. we've been having up and down normal spring weather - so this should be great!
 
Hi, thank you for letting me know I am not the only one. lol I feel bad for DH, he still can take the heat. He does keep a nice selection of stuff he can just add to his portion of a recipe.

So, other than that little bit of heat, I did enjoy the curry. 659 more to go. lol

Opps, forgot. In the last issue of one of my magazines, he has 6 new (?) recipes. Wow, now 665 recipe. (oh, good thing he didn't have 1 more)
 
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That is a favorite book of mine, too! Has some of my favorite masala recipes, as well as countless other recipes I've made. I've also used his method of sprouting the various dal, before using them in recipes, for not only increasing the nutrition, but flavor, as well. I have probably made more recipes out of this book, than any others of my Indian books.
 
BTW, Raghavan Iyer has at least two other books (maybe more) - After enjoying the 660 Currries so much, I got some deals on these two. His first one - The Turmeric Trail, which had some good recipes, but nothing like 660 Curries. And the one after - Indian Coooing Unfolded, which I didn't like nearly as much, but it might be more suitable for some people, as it calls for far fewer ingredients. I actually gave it to a friend, who liked it better for that reason - she prefers the lower numbers of ingredients in the recipes, and fewer of the unusual ingredients.
 
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Thanks for the info pepperhead. I'll check them out. I do find Indian recipes daunting. Even though I've always liked simple curries, they have not really been at the top of my list. Considering the usual long list of ingredients, ability to get them and last but not least my now complicated access to facilities.
 
In that article I mentioned above, he said he had stage 4 cancer and beat it. He also talked about trying to improve hospital food for people recovering. Most hospitals do not take that into consideration. I'm sure we all wish him good luck on that.

I will have to check out that Turmeric book, that is one of my favorite spices. Thanks!!!
 
I just checked my Herb & Spice binders and I have a 2" binder full of recipes calling for Turmeric. It's a good thing. I found out his Turmeric book is going for over $40.00 lol
 
Wow! That's what happens when things are out of print for a while - I probably have a goldmine in all those old cookbooks. That book was only $3 and something when I got it used, which was in 2013. I only remember that because it was right after I went on a vacation to see a friend in 2012, which is when I saw 660 Curries, and bought that, shortly thereafter!
 
Dave, looks like you got a good deal. I am in the process now of going through a lot of my cookbooks and making copies of recipes I might want to make and then the book goes into a box with the other books I have set aside to sell. I am tired of them just sitting there and hardly getting used (if at all lol). DD does not want them, she is of the "NEW" school, "get them off the internet". Oh well!!
 
cookieee I just went through two 18 gal tubs (I just wanted those tubs to grow in! lol) of my old cookbooks upstairs - I had an old cedar chest upstairs in my computer room, so I moved all of those books into that chest, and made an inventory of them, so that someday, when I find the time, I can sell them. I made notes next to ones that I remembered recipes I wanted to copy in, but most of those were just unwanted. There were some more in a closet, to totally fill it up with, but there are still 4 tubs I have to inventory! And I know most are out of print.


 
Dave, wish you good luck. I am hoping soon DH will have the time to help me put them on Craigslist. I'm hoping to make more room on the shelves for the cookbooks that I want to keep.

Do you check yours on Amazon?
 
Dave, wish you good luck. I am hoping soon DH will have the time to help me put them on Craigslist. I'm hoping to make more room on the shelves for the cookbooks that I want to keep.

Do you check yours on Amazon?

I haven't started checking them yet. I figure I'll do that once I am ready to sell them. I don't want to start thinking about it too much!

I was going to make another bookshelf, but the two I have hold more than I need!
 
Funny thing - I just went into my freezer to take out something to thaw for dinner, and, as I usually do, I look for the oldest, and it happens to be something I made from 660 Curries! It's not exactly the recipe, because I added some chana dal, plus I substituted beef for pork, in a Goan recipe. It's the recipe on p 233, Pork Sausage Curry, in which he says to use a chorizo like sausage, and I just made a beef chorizo - something that I used to do much more, when beef was sometimes cheaper than pork! The stuff is delicious, and I am feeling no heat - only some Kashmiri and a couple of fresh chiles chopped up in it. Like many Goan dishes, the sauce has some vinegar in it - I'll add a little more, since it is 3 years old!
 
"Funny thing - I just went into my freezer to take out something to thaw for dinner, and, as I usually do, I look for the oldest, and it happens to be something I made from 660 Curries!"

That is too funny. My mouth is on fire just looking at the picture. lol
 
That 20 spice blend is one a friend and I made just one time, but only half of it. It was really good in the couple of recipes I used it in, but it wasn't as versatile as many others. In fact, I still have it in a vacuum sealed jar, in the freezer - I still freeze some that I don't use very often, despite the fact that he recommends against it, in every one of the masala recipes. I've never noticed a problem freezing, or refrigerating spices. Another, similar tasting, but shorter recipe, is the one on p 27 - Usha Ralkar's garam masala with star anise - the spice that makes it similar.

The sambhar masala recipe on pp. 33/34 is probably the spice mix I have made the most times, and I have tried countless recipes for that, and others. The method of mixing a small amount of oil with the spices, before toasting them in the skillet, gives it a unique and delicious flavor. The next recipe, the Rasam Powder, is also good, but I found one of those I liked better.

One simple one that is good to keep around for a lot of Indian, as well as Mexican, and many other foods, is the toasted cumin-coriander blend, on p 33. I always make more of that. The Bengali 5 spice blend is another to keep on hand, and doesn't get ground.

I've made his chaat masala, which was good, but I found one I liked more, with more in it. Both the Madras and Sri Lankan curry powders (both non-toasted spices) are good.
 
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