Easy Beef and Spinach Curry

Beef and spinach curry is served with turmeric mash

Curry is a dish which very often contains a great many different ingredients, including a lengthy list of various spices. This can make it fairly expensive to prepare, particularly when you have to buy a supply of all the spices at the same time. This recipe is nice and simple in that it has a limited number of ingredients and by using minced/ground beef, the often lengthy cooking time is also reduced. It also prominently features spinach, a popular ingredient in Indian cooking but often much maligned in the West.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

1 pound minced/ground beef
1 medium white onion
2 medium garlic cloves
1 tablespoon medium hot curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
2 large (14 ounce) cans chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
1 yellow bell pepper
2 large, medium strength red chillies
4 to 6 generous handfuls baby spinach leaves
2 tablespoons freshly chopped coriander leaf (cilantro), plus extra to garnish

Curry is of course traditionally served with rice or perhaps a type of Indian flat bread. In this instance and just to be a little bit different, turmeric mashed potato was served instead. To make this mash for four people, you will need:

6 large baking potatoes
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
Salt
Butter
2 tablespoons freshly chopped coriander/cilantro

Directions

Pour the vegetable oil in to a large pot. Peel the onion, cut it in half down through the core and lay each half flat before moderately finely slicing. Peel and finely slice the garlic cloves. Put the pot on to a medium heat and add the onion, garlic, curry powder and garam masala. Saute for two or three minutes, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon, until the onion is softened.

Onion, garlic and spices

Add the beef to the pot and saute as before for a further two or three minutes until the beef is evenly browned.

Beef is stirred through softened spiced onion

Pour the tomatoes in to the pot, season with salt and pepper and stir well. Turn the heat up until the liquid in the pot starts to simmer then adjust the heat to maintain this gentle simmer.

Canned tomatoes are added to spiced beef

Seed and slice the bell pepper to a thickness of around half an inch. Top the chillies and slice fairly finely in to discs. Add both ingredients to the pot, stir well and bring back to a simmer. Cover and continue to simmer for half an hour, stirring occasionally and making sure the liquid level isn't getting too low. In the very unlikely event of this happening, add a little boiling water from your kettle as required.

Sliced peppers are added to curry

Wash the spinach leaves thoroughly and carefully stir them in to the part cooked curry. Bring back up to a simmer and continue to cook as before while you cook the potatoes.

Baby spinach leaves are added to simmering curry combination

Peel the potatoes and cut to around one and a half inch chunks (photo below shows enough potatoes to serve one person only). Add to a very large pot and season with the turmeric and some salt. Pour in plenty of cold water and bring to a simmer for about twenty minutes.

Turmeric and salt are added to peeled and chopped potatoes

When the potatoes are almost ready, stir the chopped coriander in to the curry and simmer for a few more minutes.

Corainder is added to curry at the last minute

Drain the potatoes through a metal sieve or colander (the turmeric will tend to stain a plastic one) and allow to steam off for two or three minutes. Add about two ounces (half a stick) of unsalted butter and mash with a hand masher before stirring in the chopped coriander.

Corainader is added to mashed and spiced potato

Divide the potatoes between the serving plates and spoon the curry alongside. Garnish with the last of the coriander to serve.

Curry and spicy mash are plated