Spice up your life…

Yes, any Tom, Dick or Harry can now spice up his life and cook his own meat curry, be it beef, lamb or chicken. Just get a packet of this instant curry paste…

I got it for RM3.40 at the mini-supermarket near my house. I managed to buy a kilo of fresh beef the other day so I decided to use that. I cut the meat into slices across the grain so it will not be tough…

You may be able to see in the background that I had some curry leaves and a few stalks of lemon grass (serai). I also took one Bombay onion, peeled, sliced and chopped it into tiny bits. I also peeled some sweet potatoes and cut them into huge chunks; you may choose to use potatoes instead. Then I heated some oil in a wok and sauteed the onions, adding half a tablespoon of sugar to caramelise it. Then I threw in the lemon grass stalks and some of the curry leaves. After stirring for a while till it had become really fragrant, I put in the instant curry paste…and mixed it with the ingredients. Once it was well mixed, in went the beef…

I kept turning the pieces of beef till they were well-coated with the ingredients and then I covered the wok to wait for the meat to cook, opening it to stir occasionally. Then I added water and put in the potatoes and the rest of the curry leaves…and left it to simmer. When the potatoes had become soft enough, I added coconut milk (santan). Evaporated milk may be used instead. As usual, I added ikan bilis (anchovies) stock instead of salt and msg. After simmering it for a while longer, the beef curry was ready…

So there you have it – beef curry the way my mum used to cook it, minus all the hassle of getting ready the multitude of ingredients needed…thanks to that packet of instant curry paste! It is really so very easy, take my word for it!