Mummy's Beef Curry

This is one curry which my brothers and I look forwards to when we return home to Terengganu. It is a curry reserved for special occasions like Chinese New Year.

My mum has since retired from cooking our Chinese New Year reunion dinner and now that my grandparents are no longer with us, the celebration has moved to PJ (where you know who does the cooking. Hah!). 

Through the years, I made a few attempts to recreate my mum's much loved goobak kari (beef curry) but mine tasted bleahks! So instead of experimenting and then having to eat subpar curry, I asked my mum for her recipe.

That was back in 2012 and I still have her printed email. Mum's top tip for a tasty and thick curry is onions. Lots of onions. Her recipe for 1kg of beef calls for 1/2 kg of onions. And mum uses evaporated milk instead of coconut milk.

I actually tried mum's recipe a few times. I did not put it up on the blog for lack of photos because by time I finished cooking, there was not enough light to take better shots.

Then a few months ago, I cooked this curry again and stashed it in the freezer. When I reheated the curry and ate it for lunch, I was immediately reminded of why this curry is much loved by my family.

Last weekend, I cooked a small batch and it is now time to share. Back home, we eat this with white rice and coleslaw. Try it. Coleslaw is great with curry :)

Mummy's Beef Curry
Recipe source : Phong Hong's Mum with some deviations. Hah!

- 400 beef, cut into cubes
- 4 medium sized big onions, sliced
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 1 pandan leaf, knotted
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 packet curry powder (I used Baba's 25g), 1 tbsp use to marinate beef, the remainder mix with some water to form a runny paste
- 2 cardamoms
- 3 cloves
- 1/2 inch cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 2 ripe tomatoes, cut into quarters
- 2 sprigs curry leaves
- 4 potatoes cut into quarters
- some water
- 100 ml evaporated milk

Method :
1. Pound garlic and ginger into a paste. Set aside.
2. Marinate the beef with 1 tbsp curry powder and 1 tsp turmeric powder (my beef was cold from the fridge and I let it stand for about an hour to marinate and come to room temperature )
3. Heat enough oil in wok and saute the sliced onions until wilted and slightly browned around the edges.
4. Add the ginger and garlic paste together with curry leaves, pandan leaf, cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon stick and star anise. Continue to saute until onion/garlic mixture is lightly browned (be careful not to burn).
5. Add curry paste and quickly stir to mix everything up. If mixture is dry, add some water.
6. Add beef and stir to coat the beef with the curry mixture.
7. At this stage, you can either continue cooking in the wok or transfer everything into a pot.
8. Add tomatoes and some water (amount depending on how much gravy you want), bring to boil and then lower heat to a simmer.
9. When the beef is almost tender, add potatoes and continue to simmer until potatoes are soft.
10. Add salt to taste.
11. Lastly add evaporated milk and stir to mix. Taste again for seasoning and turn off the heat.