BEEF VINDALOO – PHASE 2

INGREDIENTS

500 grams beef, cut into cubes
½ teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
½ teaspoon ground black pepper, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon brown or black mustard seeds
1 ½ white onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2cm knob of fresh ginger, minced
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to heat tolerance
1 teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
1 teaspoon garam masala, divided
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon Stevia, optional
Plain Greek yogurt for serving, optional

DIRECTIONS

Sprinkle ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper over the cubes beef. Massage it into the meat and then set it aside to rest for 10 minutes.
Heat a nonstick pan and start browning the beef. Don’t crowd the pan, do it in batches, if needed. When all beef is browned, place in a bowl and set aside.
Add the mustard seeds to the pan. Ideally, they will pop before you add the onions, but if there is a lot of beef remnants stuck to the pan, do not let those burn. If you have time for the seeds to pop, cover the pan with a lid slightly ajar so the seeds do not pop out of the pan.
When the popping has slowed–or when you are concerned the pan may scorch, add the onions with a pinch of salt. Stir, scraping up the bottom of the pan as the liquid from the onions deglazes the pan. If you have anything seriously stuck to the pan, splash a little water into the pan.
Cook the onions for 15 minutes, until caramelising. Add extra water, if needed to stop it from sticking and burning.
When the onions are brown, add the garlic and ginger. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring.
Add the remaining individual spices and half a teaspoon only of the garam masala. Stir to roast the spices but do not let them burn, 1-2 minutes.
Add the vinegar to the pan and deglaze.
Either scrape everything, including the browned meat, into the slow cooker insert, or add the meat to cooktop safe slow cooker insert. Stir in the water.
Place on the slow cooker base. Cover and cook for 4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.
Before serving, mix in the other half a teaspoon of garam masala. Taste for additional salt or even more garam masala. Taste for stevia (you are not looking for it to be sweet so much as smoothed out a bit).

Serves 5