Pigeon Cottage Kitchen

This is one of my favourite curries. The sauce is rich and thick and the slowly braised beef makes it perfect for a Saturday night supper. Like all spiced dishes, it is better cooked and reheated the next day but you can prep it the night before and just leave it to talk to itself in the oven on the day for a few hours. It does need to be marinated overnight for the best results. This Goan dish is not a hot curry. Vindahlo means it is cooked with vinegar and Kashmiri chilli powder which gives it a smoky yet slightly sour flavour note. I serve it with basmati rice and a little wilted spinach on the side.

Ingredients

• 1kg beef shin cut into thick medallions
• 5cm cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 4 cloves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• Seeds from 12 green cardamom pods
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 8 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 25g fresh ginger, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp tamarind liquid
• 1 1/2 tsps salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsps Kashmiri chilli powder (this is fruity rather than hot)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 5 tbsps white wine vinegar or toddy (coconut) vinegar if you can get it
• 2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter which you can buy in a tin in most supermarkets)
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 3 medium, ripe tomatoes, sliced
• 3 fresh green chillies, halved lengthways
• 100ml hot water into which a rich beef gel stockpot has been dissolved

To make…

• First, you need to prepare the marinade. Grind the cinnamon, peppercorns, cloves, cumin seeds and cardamom seeds to a powder. I use an electric coffee grinder that I only use for spice grinding. Put the onion, ginger, garlic, tamarind, salt, sugar, chilli powder, turmeric, the ground spices and the vinegar in a medium sized bowl and blitz to a paste.
• Mix the beef and the paste together in a ceramic dish, coating each piece thoroughly. Cover tightly with cling film and refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 140C.
• To cook, heat the ghee in a large casserole dish over a medium heat. Add the sliced onion and fry for 15 minutes until golden. Increase the heat slightly and then add the beef and the marinade ingredients. Cook out for 5 minutes, stir twice.
• Fold in the sliced tomatoes, green chillies and the hot beef stock. Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook in the oven for five hours until the beef is tender. Check after a couple of hours to make sure it doesn’t need topping up with a little more water. The beef should be meltingly tender and the sauce thick and velvety.

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