Healthy Beef Madras
A rich and spicy beef madras with tender meat and a thick, satisfying sauce
15 mins
1 hour 30 mins
360 kcals
serves 4
HEALTHY BEEF MADRAS
I was always a fussy eater as a kid- I wouldn’t touch any fruit and would only tolerate certain vegetables. when I was about 12, my Mum made a discovery, which was that I would eat pretty much any vegetables if they were in curry! Although adulthood (and travelling the world) made me much less fussy, and I love a lot of the foods I wouldn’t eat as a child, I still love a good curry!
One of my dreams is to go to India for a cookery course and culinary tour. I’ve never been to India, but when my husband travelled there for work he said that the food was just incredible- even in the most rubbish looking airport hotel the dhal was better than anything he had ever tasted in the UK!
I did go to a local Indian cookery course last year at the Occombe Farm Cookery school, which I really enjoyed, and opened me up to some dishes and flavours that I have never tried before.
Anyway, I think what I am getting at is that I am not accomplished at Indian cuisine (which I hope to change over the years), but I do know what I like in a curry, and I think I have a good measure of a good curry for the British palate- I love a chicken tikka masala (and I have 2 versions on the blog: Skinny chicken tikka masala and slow-cooker chicken tikka masala). A beef madras was next on my list to try!
I wanted to create a thick and rich sauce, and I didn’t want it to be too meat heavy, so I added in red lentils which went perfectly both to thicken the sauce, and give it a really satisfying consistency.
I mixed up my spice using a mini chopper- if you don’t have one then I really recommend investing! They aren’t expensive to buy, and are so handy both for making curry pastes and other types of sauces and pestos. I have this one from Tefal, which I love:
I accompanied this curry with my onion bhajis which were super-tasty and also super- healthy!
Healthy Beef Madras
Ingredients
- 400 g lean casserole beef
- 2 small onions or 1 large
- 4 cloves garlic
- a thumb sized piece fresh ginger peeled
- 1 fresh green chilli
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 litre beef stock
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 150 g red lentils
- salt and pepper
- low calorie cooking spray
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 180c
- Whizz up the onions, garlic, ginger and fresh chilli in a mini chopper or food processor
- Add the turmeric, garam masala, mustard powder, cumin seeds, fenugreek, and chilli flakes and puree into a paste
- Spray a large, deep pan (one that has a lid) with cooking spray, put onto a medium heat, and add the beef.
- Cook on a high heat for 2-3 minutes until browned on the outside
- Add the curry paste, lower the heat and stir fry gently for about 3 minutes.
- Add in the chopped tomatoes and stir through, keeping the heat low.
- Add in the tomato puree, lemon juice, soy sauce and salt and pepper, and 500ml of the beef stock. Stir in the lentils.
- Bring up to bubbling, give it a good stir, cover with a lid and pop into the oven (middle shelf)
- Cook for 45 minutes, remove from the oven, give it a good stir and add the remaining beef stock
- Cook for another 45 minutes, double check the beef to make sure it’s nice and tender
- Serve garnished with fresh coriander and fat-free yoghurt
