Curry a real crowd pleaser

Impress your guests with this beef short rib and sweet potato massaman curry

SERVES: 4–6 Ingredients

2kg Australian beef short ribs or Asado ribs

1⁄2 head garlic, skins on approx. 5-6 cloves

1 red onion, skin on

1 tbsp coriander seeds

3 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp black peppercorns

4 cloves

1 stick cinnamon, snapped in half

2 cardamom pods

1 dried chilli (or more or less)

1⁄2 tsp ground turmeric (for colour)

1⁄2 cup roasted peanuts

1 stalk lemongrass, white part only, roughly chopped 5cm knob of ginger or galangal, skin peeled

1 tbsp coconut oil

275ml can coconut milk

1⁄3 cup coconut sugar

1 tbsp tamarind puree

1 ½ cups coconut water Fish sauce, to season Fresh coriander, to garnish

Method

Place half a head of garlic and red onion, with the skin on, directly on to individual, small gas burners on your stovetop and turn the heat on to low, allowing the skins to blacken. Turn every few minutes, ensuring all sides are blackened evenly.

Afterwards cook the garlic for about 5–7 minutes and onion for 10–12 in a pan. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before peeling back the skin and revealing softened, sweet garlic and onion. Roughly chop and set aside. Alternatively, you can skip this step and roughly chop raw onion and garlic for a less sweet result.

While the garlic and onion are cooking place coriander, cumin seed, black peppercorns, cloves, snapped cinnamon stick, cardamom and dried chilli into a small, heavy-based frypan and place on low heat, allowing spices to toast for about 5–10 minutes or until spices are fragrant, shake pan occasionally.

Remove spices from pan and allow them to cool in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. When cool, grind to a fine powder, then stir in ground turmeric.

Place garlic and onion, roasted peanuts, chopped lemongrass, ginger or galangal and spice powder into a small food processor and blend until a smooth paste forms.

Add coconut oil to a large slow cooker pot over gas stovetop or in a large fry pan and fry off short ribs on both sides until golden and caramelised then set aside.

Add all of the curry paste to the pan and fry off in the remaining beef fat until lightly golden for 2–3 minutes.

Add coconut milk and bring to a simmer, then add tamarind, coconut sugar, coconut water, mix well to combine and bring back to simmering point.

Add beef ribs to mix and place in slow cooker.

Cook on low for about 8 hours. Alternatively, cook on stove top on low for 4 hours, topping up with a little water when needed.

When curry is ready to serve, season with a little fish sauce and garnish with fresh sprigs of coriander.

Serve with brown rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice.