Thai Beef Curry
Ingredients
4 servings
- For the meat
- Beef (boneless) 1 kg
- Water 2-2.5 l
- Lemongrass and galangal (dried) about 1 tbsp by volume
- Hot chili pepper (dried) 1 small pod
- Ginger (fresh) a small piece
- For the sauce
- Sesame oil (or corn or peanut oil) 3-4 tbsp
- Garlic 2-3 cloves
- Curry paste (medium hot) 1-2 tbsp (17–33 g)
- Fish sauce 1-1.5 tbsp
- Brown sugar 1 tsp (5 g)
- Bell pepper (large, red) 1
- Hot chili pepper (fresh) a little, optional
- Lime 1 (juice of half goes into the sauce, the rest in wedges for serving)
- Coconut milk 400 ml
- Cornstarch 1-1.5 tbsp (10–15 g)
- Cold water a little, to dissolve the starch
- For serving
- Rice (jasmine) 1.5 cups (270 g)
- Green onion a few stalks
Step-by-step recipe
How to boil the beef
Rice with curry is a very common dish. Curry is mostly made with poultry or vegetables, though meat is also popular. We will make Thai-style beef. It is best to use meat that is not too old, only the flesh without membranes, bones and gristle. The so-called cutlet cut from the back is ideal.
Prepare the beef: wash it and trim off anything unneeded.
Gather the spices for boiling the meat: a little dried lemongrass, dried galangal root, and a piece of fresh ginger. Fresh spices can be found in stores, but you have to look for them, while the dried ones are easy to buy. For the sauce we took a large fresh red bell pepper, the fleshiest kind. You can even take two, and the Thai-style meat will be even tastier.
Boil the meat with the spices. Pour 2-2.5 l of water into a pot, add the washed beef, bring the water to a boil over high heat and skim off the foam. Put the lemongrass and galangal into a clean cloth or sachet bag, just a little, about 1 tbsp by volume, and add a small dried chili pod and the peeled ginger. Drop the bag into the water and simmer the meat at a gentle boil for at least 1 hour, until the beef is completely tender and a fork goes in easily.
Beef is usually a little tough, so it is hard to predict in advance how long it will take. You can leave the spice bag in until the meat is done, or take it out whenever you see fit.
Sauce for the meat
We start the sauce when the meat is almost done.
Fry the garlic. Heat 3-4 tbsp of sesame oil in a saucepan or wok; corn or peanut oil also works. Peel the garlic, crush it with a garlic press and fry in the oil over medium heat for 1-2 mins, without letting it darken.
Add the curry paste, 1-1.5 tbsp of fish sauce and 1 tsp of brown sugar (5 g), stir and keep frying over low heat for 4-5 mins, stirring occasionally. If the paste is medium hot, you can add more, otherwise go by taste. Fish sauce is easy to find in stores and, by the way, is a great ingredient for sauces served with jiaozi.
Peel the red bell pepper, cut into thick strips and add to the sauce. If you like, add a little fresh chili at the same time. Simmer the pepper for 6-7 mins, until soft. If there is little liquid in the saucepan, that is even better, because the pepper will fry. Then squeeze the juice of half a lime into the sauce.
After a few minutes, pour the coconut milk into the sauce, stir and simmer over low heat for about 10 mins. Here it is usually sold in 400 ml tins, and the quality is quite good. We sometimes buy it for Tom Kha Kai , a spicy soup with chicken, mushrooms and coconut milk.
Thicken the sauce with starch. In a cup, mix 1-1.5 tbsp of cornstarch (10–15 g) with cold water, let it stand for a few minutes, then pour into the sauce, preferably through a strainer. Stir the sauce very thoroughly, because it thickens quickly.
How to simmer the meat in the sauce
Take the boiled beef out of the broth and cut into slices 1.5-2 cm thick. It is best to cut across the grain with a very sharp knife. Put all the pieces of meat into the hot curry sauce and simmer the Thai-style meat for 10-12 mins over low heat. The meat should soak up the sauce. After that the beef curry is ready to serve.
Serving
The most important component of this dish is rice. Most often Thai jasmine rice is used. It is a popular but fairly expensive variety grown in Isan, in northeastern Thailand. It is a sticky rice and should not be boiled in water, but cooked in a wooden steamer. Fragrant basmati rice also works well. The rice should be ready by the time you serve.
Put the cooked rice, with no salt, spices or additions, in a small bowl. In a similar or larger bowl, put the slices of beef curry, generously covered with sauce. Sprinkle the meat with finely chopped green onion and be sure to add a few lime wedges. It is convenient to serve the rice and Thai-style meat together on a tray or platter, but in separate dishes.
Although in Thailand it is customary to eat with your hands, do put out chopsticks or a fork when serving.
Calories and macros
915 kcal
Serving ≈ 530 g
- Protein63 g27% of kcal
- Fat46 g45% of kcal
- Carbs65 g28% of kcal
100 g174 kcalProtein 11.9 gFat 8.7 gCarbs 12.3 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.