Potluck Idea: Black Beef Dry Curry

I love eating with friends and family. I enjoy chatting over meals, the laughters, glass clinking and the overall lively vibe from eating with a room of people whom I love and cherish. Too bad, it doesn’t happen as regular as I have hoped due to varying work commitments and schedules.

I’ve been wanting to organise a potluck party inviting some new friends whom I met since moving to Orange. As you all know procrastination is the thief of time – it has been a good few months since my potluck  plan is in the works and I’m starting to feel a little embarrass for dragging it out that long. So, without further ado, I picked up a phone to make a few calls and finally, potluck party was actually happening!

For those who are unfamiliar with the term “potluck”, it basically means a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food to be shared among the group (extracted from Wikipedia). This is something I learned when I was in University and it is without a doubt an economical way of hosting a party and also less work on the host/hostess. In order to host a successful potluck party, it is important to have a general idea on “who is bringing what” to ensure a proper proportion of main dishes and desserts (it’ll be disastrous with a table full of dessert!)

While many of my friends love making desserts, I, the self-proclaimed savoury queen, will of course contribute the savoury dishes. 😛

I usually pick out a dish that can be done ahead of time i.e stews and curries. Not only they taste better the next day,  I don’t have rush like a mad woman trying to get everything done hours before the party i.e set the table, tidy the house, get properly attired and make up…you get the idea.

{My frozen curry leaves}

Anyway, for this party, my dish of choice was black beef dry curry. I have been cooking this dish quite frequently after watching  an episode of Poh’s Kitchen  on  local delicacies in my hometown – Penang. I’m delighted with the ease of the dish; and this is another one of my childhood favourite which my mum used to buy this curry every week from a neighbourhood stall ran by a group of Malay housewives.

The reason is known as black beef is not because of a specific species beef is used in the curry. Oh, nothing like that! But is because dark soy sauce is added to the curry so the gravy becomes darker and sweeter than the conventional curry.

Despite I mentioned that the recipe is easy, it requires about 1 1/2 of cooking time.  This is what Nigella Lawson would call a Quick Quick Slow – slow cooking with minimal effort. After all time must be invested in order to produce tenderised beef right? I hope you’ll enjoy this dish. 🙂

Black Beef Dry Curry

(inspired by black beef nasi kandar by Chef Ismail)

Serves 5-6 people

Ingredients:

1.5 kg diced beef

3 tbsps Malaysian curry powder

10 tbsps water

6 tbsps sweet soy sauce / ketjap manis / ABC sauce

about 15 curry leaves

2 large onions, thinly sized

5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 inch thick ginger, roughly sliced

1 green chilli, deseeded and slit into halves

2 tomatoes, quartered

Salt and sugar to taste

Method:

1. In a small bowl, stir curry powder and 10 tbsps of water to create a paste. Set aside for 1/2 hour or more.  This step will ensure a smooth gravy rather than grainy.

2. Add curry leaves to hot oil and fry.

3. Add onions, garlic, ginger and green chilli. Fry until fragrant.

4. Add curry paste and stir to combine with the onion mixture. Fry for 10 – 15 minutes on low heat, until the oil begins to separate.

5. Add tomatoes, beef, dark soy sauce, sugar and salt (I suggest add about 1/2 tbsps of sugar & salt respectively, you can add more later on).

6.  Add a little water (enough to cover the beef) and cook until the beef is tender on low to medium heat. This will take approximately 1 1/2 hours. Please check after one hour to make sure the curry doesn’t stick.

7. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for another 15 – 20 minutes or until the gravy has  thickened and dark brown. The length of time depends on how much liquid is absorbed by the beef after 1 1/2 hours of cooking.

8. Season with salt and sugar to taste and best serve with rice.

In case you have any leftovers, they make really good fried rice too!

To make fried rice:

1. Pan fry some eggs and frozen veggies of your choice.

2. Add rice and leftover curry to the egg mixture and stir to combine.

3. Add salt/soy sauce to taste. Enjoy!