Beef baked with yoghurt and black pepper

Well the Indian tour is over as of last night- we watched the final game with yet another meal courtesy of my Indian week- this baked beef with the wonderful beetroot recipe that I'll post separately. We were happy to see India win- Australia have been such bad sports this season...and of course this series of meals has put us in a distinctly subcontinental frame of mind.

PS I know my food styling skills need alot of work- this definitely tastes better than my crummy photo would have you believe!

Serves 4

Ingredients

6 tbsp of vegetable oil

900g stewing beef cubed

2 small onions, peeled and finely chopped

6 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

1/2 tsp of cayenne

1tbs of paprika

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

300ml natural yoghurt

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 F/ gas 4)

Put the oil in a flameproof casserole-type pan (preferably one with a lid) and set over medium - high heat.

Brown the meat in batches. Put the brown meat in a separate bowl

Put onions and garlic in the same pan and turn the heat down to medium. Stir and fry this mixture till it has browned.

Return the meat to the pan.

Add the ginger, cayenne, paprika, salt and black pepper- give it a quick stir to coat the meat and onions nicely with the spices.

Add the yoghurt. Bring to a simmer.

Cover tightly with foil and then the lid and bake in the oven for 90 minutes.

Stir gently and serve.

This is quite a dry dish, so goes well with a saucy vegetable dish (was great with the Beetroot with Onions) or nice moist rice. A dab of yoghurt works well- if you're feeling like it, whip up a quick Raita.

My first Rogan Josh

I've always wanted to make this as it's one of my favourite dishes at Indian restaurants. Again armed with the Madhur Jaffrey classic "Indian Cooking" I had a go and was surprised how simple this was. The only messy bit (assuming you get your butcher to cube the lamb) was making the paste.

Rogan Josh
Serves 4
Ingredients
5 cm (2 inches) knob of ginger peeled and coarsely chopped
8 cloves garlic, peeled
4 tbsp + 300 (10 fl oz) water
10 tbsp vegetable oil
900g cubed lamb

10 cardamom pods
2 bay leaves
6 cloves
10 peppercorns
2.5 cm (inch) cinnamon stick

200g onions, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp. ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp. paprika
¼ to 1 tsp of cayenne pepper (depending how hot you like it- I use a full tsp)
1 ¼ tsp salt
6 tbsp natural yoghurt
¼ tsp garam masala
Freshly ground black pepper

Use a barmix to blend the ginger garlic and 4 tbsps of water into a smooth paste.
Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan over medium-high heat.
Brown the meat in batches and set aside.
Put the cardamom pods, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns and cinnamon into the oil and stir.
Add the onions- stir fry for around 5 minutes or until the onions are a medium brown colour.
Put in the garlic-ginger paste and stir for 30 secs.
Then add the coriander, cumin, paprika, cayenne and salt. Stir and fry for another 30 seconds.
Add the meat with all the juices, mix well so its coated with the paste in the pan. Now add in 1 tbsp of yoghurt- mix well- and gradually add the rest of the yoghurt. Stir and fry for around 3 minutes.
Now add 300 ml water- bring to the boil, scraping all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan into the sauce.
Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for an hour- stirring every 10 minutes.
If there is still liquid left after an hour, turn to high and boil off as desired- the sauce should be nice and thick.
Spoon off the fat.
Sprinkle with garam masala and black pepper and mix them in before serving.
Ideal with rice.