Easy Malaysian beef curry

This easy Malaysian beef curry is easy to slow-cook, but ensure you allow enough time for it. The dense flavours of the beef and coconut are balanced by fresh green flavours, in this case green beans and choy sum, These are all wrapped in the heady flavours of lime, ginger, lemongrass, cloves and nutmeg, among numerous other delights.

Back in the house

Years ago I worked with a Malaysian colleague, a nurse. She, together with her housemates, taught me some amazing Malaysian dishes, such as this beef curry and this one.

Over the years I was lucky enough to be invited to dinner—and taught to cook—wonderful Malaysian dishes by these women. This is just one of them.

Rinse and repeat

I'm including the recipe for the original spice paste here, the paste used for a lot of their dishes. But, you can cheat and use a store-bought laksa paste, adding what's missing. I tend to make it from scratch in larger quantities than needed. It will last safely in the fridge for about a week (the dried shrimp) but it freezes very well and I usually push it into an ice tray, removing as many cubes as I need when I want to knock something up.

The original version involves making the paste through the laborious process of chopping ingredients and then pounding them down using a pestle and mortar. These days I default to a handheld blender and a mini-chopper. It's up to you.

In terms of spiciness, I describe this dish as "mild to moderate" in the quantities in this recipe. But, you can always reduce the number of fresh and dried chillies—or increase them. In the case of the fresh chillies, don't use very hot bird's eye (Thai) chillies but the slightly larger, milder type you often find in Asian salad dishes.

It's difficult to be specific about chillies. If I have any advice on the dried chillies that you rehydrate, try to buy them from a South East Asian brand. Indian Dandicut dried chillies (more widely available in the UK) tend to be a lot hotter. The chillies also play a role in defining the colour of your dish, but don't worry about that. It can be anywhere from a fiery red to a muddy brown without there being anything wrong with it at all.

The quantities in this recipe easily serve 3 or 4 diners. But please note that the images show slightly different quantities of some ingredients.

3 top tips to get this recipe right:

• The desiccated coconut that you toast is key in this recipe. Don't be tempted to use "posh" frozen grated coconut. When I confessed to the women who taught me this recipe that I had tried it and it was a disaster, they just laughed: "We taught you how to do it properly!" Enough said. But, I find it works better with an organic desiccated coconut that's free of the chemicals sometimes used to preserve it. So, I buy it from a wholefood place.

• While easy to cook, this is fundamentally a slow-cooked dish and you should allot at least two hours to bring it to perfection at a low heat. I've made the mistake of trying to rush it and, trust me, it's just not as good.

• Dried shrimp is widely available to order online and in many Asian supermarkets around the world and I really recommend you use this. But, if that seems like too much work or simply too scary, there are two hacks you can use. One is to use 3tspns of shrimp paste (available through pretty much the same avenues but without all those extra steps) OR 2tspns of Thai fish sauce that is even more widely available

Shopping list

for the easy Malaysian beef curry

• Approx. 450g lean beef; cut into bite-sized pieces

• 1 large red sweet pepper (or bell pepper); cubed

• Approx. 200g fresh green beans; topped and tailed

• Approx. 180g choy sum; roughly chopped

• 1 stick of fresh lemongrass; broken in half and bruised

• 2 large fresh lime leaves

• 2 whole star anise

• 3 or 4 whole cloves

• 3tbspns desiccated coconut; toasted

• 200ml coconut milk; full fat

• 3 or 4tbspns sunflower oil (or peanut oil)

• salt and pepper to taste

• Boiling water (approx. 300ml)

for the spice paste 

• 6 dried chillies; soaked to rehydrate, deseeded

• 2 fresh red chillies; deseeded and roughly chopped

• 3 small onions; peeled and roughly chopped

• 5 cloves of fresh garlic; peeled; roughly chopped

• ½ cup dried shrimp; soaked, toasted, and then finely ground

• 5 shallots; peeled and cut into pieces

• 1tspn turmeric powder

• ½tspn ground nutmeg

• 4 whole cloves

• 2tspns lemongrass paste

• 1tspn roughly ground black pepper

• Juice and pulp of 2 fresh limes

• 4-5 makrut lime leaves; torn

• Approx. 3tbspns sunflower or peanut oil

• 2 thumb’s lengths of fresh ginger; peeled

• 1 thumb’s length fresh galangal; peeled

for the side dishes and condiments

• rice — I serve it with coconut basmati rice or plain steamed basmati

• sambal — chopped raw onions, tomatoes and chillies in a little vinegar

• crispy fried shallots— as a condiment added at table or as a liberal garnish

Cooking Method

the spice paste

1. Add all of the ingredients except for the onions, ginger, fresh chillies and garlic to a mixing jug. Using a handheld blender, work them into a thick paste, lubricating with oil, as needed. Once a fairly smooth paste, place to one side

2. Add the shallots, fresh chillies, garlic, ginger and galangal to a mini-chopper. Chop until finely chopped, but not yet a paste

3. Combine in the mini-chopper producing a thick spice paste with notable "bits" in it

the easy Malaysian beef curry

1. Toast the desiccated coconut in a dry frying pan on a medium-high heat until it starts to turn golden brown. Place to one side

2. In the pot with a lid in which you will cook the dish, heat a little oil on a medium heat and brown the beef, turning with tongs. Once sealed on all sides, remove with a sieve spoon leaving all the juices in the pot

3. Add the remainder of the oil, cloves, lemongrass and star anise. When the aromas release, add the spice paste and stir. Cook for 5mins. If it sticks, add dashes of water

4. Add the red pepper and stir in, sautéing for another 6mins or so; until it show signs of softening. Add about 150ml of boiling water and stir in. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer on a low heat for about 10mins

5. Add the beef back into the pot. Sprinkle the toasted coconut over the top and allow to fully heat through before stirring in. Reduce to a low heat so that the pot is barely simmering. Cover and cook for approx. 30mins, stirring occasionally

6. Once the contents have notably reduced, possibly even verging on sticking, taste and season with salt as needed. Pour in another 150ml of boiling water and stir in. Add the lime leaves. Re-cover and simmer for another 30mins, stirring occasionally

7. Add the green beans and stir in. Re-cover and simmer for a further 10mins

8. Add the choy sum and stir in. Re-cover and simmer until the sauce cooks down to a rather thick consistency more akin to braised steak than the cliché of "a curry". Cooking on a very low heat, I find that this usually takes about at least an additional 30mins, but there are no "rules" and it sometimes cooks in less time. The main thing is that you don't want to serve it until it's a thick gravy that wouldn't run off a plate but also don't want it to cook down to the point that all the beef completely flakes

9. Once ready, plate or take to table in a serving dish together with the side of rice and condiments

Alternatives

I have never attempted to cook a vegan or pescatarian version of this dish, perhaps because its slow-cooking process presents problems for both. That said, I could concede that pretty much following this recipe, not adding the beef and instead adding additional green beans and choy sum—possibly even whole mushrooms—at the appropriate moments could produce a delicious vegan version. Similarly, I imagine adding raw king prawns or scallops at the same time as the choy sum in this recipe would produce a delightful pescatarian option.

The caveat here is that I have never tried either, and I prefer to not offer speculative recipes I have not trialed. So, it's AYOR.

Pairings

I first had this dish with cold beer and that's pretty much what I have done ever since; a good Singaporean beer or something in that ballpark; chilled.

However, I have most often had it with iced sparking water with a slice of lime and I still think this is the thing that works best.

On the occasions I have paired it with wine, I have gone heavier, not so much because of the spices, but because of the beef itself. As a warming, hearty dish during the winter, it has worked really well with Spanish Tempranillos, particularly those with notable oak notes, though I can't recall any specific one.

In hotter weather, it works very well with lighter reds. I remember one particular balmy evening eating it al fresco where it paired perfectly with a Marchesi di Barolo Rurè Barbera d'Asti—I forget which vintage—where the slightly tart aftertaste was like an on-board palate-cleanser for the dense, rich spices.