BEEF SHATKORA

Beef Shatkora is a rich spicy tangy curry made using the shatkora citrus fruit, or in this case pink grapefruit.

This dish does take a bit of time and preparation in terms of the ingredients, but  once done you  can leave the curry to cook for a few hours whilst you pour yourself a drink!

Ingredients

(serves 6)

1.5kg blade steak cut into 3cm pieces
100  ml vegetable oil
10 cloves
3 pieces of cinnamon
10 green cardamom pods
225g onions, finely sliced
35g garlic, crushed
50g peeled ginger, finely grated
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
5 teaspoons chilli powder
4 teaspoons freshly ground cumin seeds
4 teaspoons freshly ground coriander seeds
2 teaspoons of salt
3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
100g ghee
1 shatkora or ¼ pink grapefruit (and if you are using a grapefruit you need the juice too)
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Garam Masala

Method

Cut the beef into chunks and trim off any excess fat

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the cloves, cinnamon and cardamom pods and cook for a few seconds, allowing them to sizzle.

Add the onions and cook gently for 20 minutes or so until very soft and slightly brown.

Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, chilli powder, ground cumin, coriander, salt, stir and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the beef into the pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the ketchup, ghee and cook for a few minutes.

Pour in 300ml boiling water, cover the pan and leave to simmer for around 1½-2 hours or until the meat is tender.

Shatkora

Meanwhile cut the grapefruit in half, squeeze the juice into a bowl. Keep one quarter of the grapefruit back, remove any flesh and the white pith, then cut the zest into thin strips. Add the juice and zest to the curry and cook for another 30 minutes uncovered.

Add the black pepper, garam marsala and salt, if required, then serve.

Original recipe.

Far Eastern Odyssey Rick Stein