Kari Daging (Malaysian Beef Curry)

Kari Daging

I am in a mellow mood - after listening repeatedly to Tokunaga's heart-squeezing cover of Akiko Kobayashi's 1985 song Fall in Love in the past 2 days. It probably also helped that the rest of the family is away playing golf.

Decided to make three of Hub's preferred dishes Fried Okra, Bak Kut Teh Soup and Kari Daging for dinner. Both require a long cooking time, so in between the washing and searching for Tokunaga's albums on the Net, I made dinner.

Tokunaga's voice is saccherine sweet in contrast to Garou's rough crackly one that I like very much too. Hub thinks that between my thing for hard rock and insipid Asian love songs, I have bad taste in music. But like when it comes to art, I'm no expert, what I like I look at, listen to or eat. I freak out when he puts on Kate Bush, couldn't stand her screeching voice and senseless lyrics; His favourite Peter Gabriel leaves me neither hot nor cold. He agrees with my fondness for classical Baroque composers though. At least that we have in common when it comes to music.

Kari Daging :

800g stewing Beef (cubed)

2 Tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste

Ground Turmeric

125ml Yoghurt

1 Onion (sliced)

1 Cinnamon Stick

1 Star Anise

4 Cloves

4 Green Cardamoms

2 Tsp Cumin seeds

1 Tsp Fennel seeds

1 Tbsp ground Coriander

1 Tsp ground Chilli

1 Tsp ground Black Pepper

A handful of Curry leaves

1 Tsp Sugar

2 Tsp Salt

300ml hot water or stock

300ml Coconut Milk

2 Carrots (chunked)

2 Potatoes (cubed)

Fresh Coriander leaves for garnishing

Marinate the beef with the ginger-garlic paste, turmeric and yoghurt. Set aside for at least an hour.

In a heavy-bottom pot with a lid, heat up some oil and fry the onions, followed by all the dry ground and whole spices till fragrant. At this point you can remove them from the pot, let them cool and grind into a paste or continue leaving them whole.

Add the marinated beef cubes, the curry leaves, salt and sugar. Brown the meat on all sides.

Pour in the hot water or stock. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Pour in the coconut milk, stir well, cover and simmer for another 2 hours.

Add the carrots and potatoes and simmer for another hour or till the meat and vegetables are tender.

Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with white rice.

Just as well that I cooked dinner beforehand as they left for the cinema to watch Iron Man 2 after golf. I stayed behind and watched a Korean movie She's on Duty starring Kim Sun Ah and Gong Yoo on the Net.