Beef, Coconut and Spinach Pilau

Ingredients#

Makes 4 portions.

• 675 g lean braising or stewing steak, cut into 2.5cm cubes
• 2 tablespoons neutral-tasting oil
• 2 onions, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons madras curry paste
• 1 green chilli, finely chopped
• 1 400g can of coconut milk
• 850 g hot beef stock
• 300 g basmati rice
• 100 g (baby) spinach leaves, loosely chopped if not small
• 2 medium tomatoes, quartered
• Handful chopped coriander, to garnish
• Handful toasted flaked almonds, to garnish

Method#

1. Heat half the oil 1 tablespoons in a casserole dish and brown the beef in batches. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Add the remaining oil and cook the onions and garlic until lightly brown. Stir in the curry paste 3 tablespoons and cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 160-170°C fan.
4. Return the beef to the dish and add the chilli, coconut milk 1 400ml can and stock 850 ml . Season. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and cook in the oven for 1 hour.
5. In the meantime, rinse the rice well to remove starch and let it soak in cold water to soften until the next step.
6. Stir the (drained) rice into the casserole dish, cover and return to the oven for a further 15/20 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed. Turn off the oven.
7. Mix in the spinach and tomatoes, cover and leave to stand - off the heat - for 5-10 mins. Now is a good time to toast the flaked almonds and chop the coriander.
8. Serve with the almonds and coriander as a garnish.

Notes#

• It's best to prepare some things in advance to make the first stage of the recipe easier - chop the onion, garlic, chilli. Make the stock. Or have one person preparing as the other browns the beef.
• Pilau / pulao / pilaf is rice cooked with meat (and maybe vegetables, nuts, dried fruits, spices). It differs from biryani in that pulao the rice absorbs the stock while cooking, whereas biryani the rice is cooked separately and layered in later. I think. :)