ingredients
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 piece of ginger
- 2 chillies – add to taste
- 100g red lentils
- 1 punnet cherry tomatoes
- 1 pice pot no. 8
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tin light coconut milk
- beef escalope
- coriander
- baby spinach
- garam masala – add to taste
- lime (or lemon)
method
Slosh of olive oil in a hot pan. Thin strips of beef. Cook until brown. Add garam masala halfway. Remove beef strips and set aside, to be used later.
Halve, peel, slice the onion. Peel and finely grate or chop the garlic and ginger. Chop one chilli – deseed or leave the seeds in for more heat, depending on taste.
Fry the onion on a low-medium heat for two minutes in the pan vacated by the beef, stirring now and then.
Halve (or quarter if large) the cherry tomatoes.
Add the garlic, ginger, spice pot, curry powder, cinnamon stick and some chilli too, if you like heat. Stir continuously for one minute. Add a little splash of water, if the spices look like they’re catching.
Stir in the lentils and cherry tomatoes. Shake the coconut milk tin well before you open it. Add the tin of coconut milk. Season with a little pepper, bring to a low boil and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring now and then. Keep an eye on the liquid , dals are subjective, you can have it as runny or as thick as you like, so you might need to add a little extra water as they cook, particularly towards the end. The dal can very quickly turn from runny to very thick.
Chop the coriander, stalks and all.
When the dal is about five minutes from being ready, remove the cinnamon stick, then stir in the spinach leaves.
Stir half the coriander into the lentil dal. Season the dal with salt, pepper and add lime (or lemon) juice to taste. Serve it topped with the beef, scattered with remaining coriander and some chopped remaining chilli too, if you like, to your taste.
thoughts
Very tasty dish.
I never do a good job cooking beef. This was perfect, tasty and tender.
Hot tip: The coconut milk will probably be solid. Pop in a warm oven. It will then pour easily. If need more liquid, wash out the tin with boiling water and add to the lentil dal.
I used lemon instead of lime. I already had a lemon cut in half, I wished the lime for a cocktail.
Hot tip: Roll the lime (or lemon) with applied pressure from palm of hand. This will rupture internally and enable more juice to be squeezed out.
Vegan tip: If omit the stir-fried beef, will have a very tasty vegan dish.
Keithpp's Blog 