Taste & Create: Ground Beef Curry

Usually I use Taste & Create to expand my culinary horizons, track down spices of which I've never heard, that sort of thing. Taste & Create is a monthly food blog event, created by the lovely Nicole of For the Love of Food, in which participants are randomly paired off and tasked with preparing a recipe from their partner's blog. Occasionally, like this month, I get to help Nicole out by guest-hosting the event!

I was ready to expand my horizons all over again when I was paired with Marisa of The Creative Pot, cooking from across the world in South Africa...until she posted this simple recipe on a night when I was hungry but didn't know what to make for dinner. I really don't know what country the recipe comes from, but this curry is sort of like an Indian Hamburger Helper--ground beef, flavored with curry spices, but with no exotic ingredients! The only thing I was missing was spinach, and that was easy to get.

It was a wonderfully fragrant, delicious dish, easy yet out of the ordinary, and perfect for a weeknight.

The only changes I made from Marisa's recipe were to use olive oil (and more oil), and I covered the dish while simmering, which worked perfectly. I served it with rice, because I didn't have time (or a recipe) for rotis. I can't wait to have more of this tomorrow for lunch!

You really should go see Marisa's picture of this curry--it's much better than mine.



Ground Beef Curry (Keema Kari)

Adapted from Chow Times

Serves 6

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 onions, finely chopped

1/2 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cumin seeds, crushed

1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1 pound ground beef

4 medium firm potatoes, (skin on), cubed

1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 cup beef stock

salt and pepper to taste

1 bunch of spinach, washed, stalks removed and shredded

1. Saute onion over medium heat in oil until soft. Add garlic, and spices, fry for 1 minute until fragrant.

2. Add beef, and brown over medium to high heat.

3. Add potatoes, tomatoes and beef stock, turn heat down, cover and allow to simmer for 30 - 40 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through.

4. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir spinach through. Turn heat off and allow to rest for a few minutes for the spinach to wilt into the curry.

Serve warm, with rice or rotis.