Beef Curry from Sri Lanka

When cooking Sri Lankan food, be aware that the heady aromas travel quite far and you might get neighbours dropping by to see what you are cooking.  This beef curry tastes as good as it smells.  I cooked it the day before so that the flavours could permeate through the beef cubes.

1kg beef stew meat cut into cubes
6 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger finely chopped
1 green chili finely chopped
3 1/2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoons cooking oil
2 onions sliced thinly
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cardamom pods bruised
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup water
1 can coconut milk
Put oil into a large pot and add the garlic, ginger, cardamom pods, chilies and onion and cook until the onions are soft.  Add in the curry powder, chili powder, salt, pepper and cinnamon powder.  Mix well with the onion mixture.  Add the beef cubes and brown them and at the same time cover the beef with the curry and onion mixture.  Add in the 1 cup water, vinegar and tomato paste.  Let it cook on medium heat until it starts to boil.  Reduce the heat and add the coconut milk.  Leave to simmer until the beef is tender.  Serve with jasmine and cashew nut rice.
Cindy Vine is a South African living and working in Kyiv Ukraine.  She is the author of Hush Baby, Defective and The Case of Billy B.  All her books are available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback format.