Tonight, I prepared a fantastic South African curry meat stew - South African Cape Malay Curry (Bo-Kaap Cape Malay Kerrie). It is a wonderful mix of sweet and savory flavors. Although it has a lot of ingredients, it is very easy to make.
The dish originated with the ethnic Indonesians and Indians who were brought to South Africa as slaves in the 17th Century. They are known as Cape Malays.
I found two recipes for this dish:
1. From food.com. This one appears to be authentic. (http://www.food.com/recipe/bo-kaap-cape-malay-kerrie-south-african-cape-malay-curry-289231)
The version I made is a mix of these two recipes. There were a couple of items that I meant to include from the food.com version, but forgot - carrots and tomato paste.
I served the stew over long grain, saffron, yellow rice.
Below is a table that compares the ingredients of the three versions. Below the table are the directions for the way I prepared the dish.
Ingredients
|
Food.com
|
CL
|
Mine
|
Comments
|
Lamb
|
x
|
Not at supermarket
| ||
Beef
|
x
|
x
| ||
Canola oil
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Onions
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Garlic
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Fresh ginger
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Curry powder
|
x
|
x
| ||
Coriander
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Cumin
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Turmeric
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Cinnamon
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Salt
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Pepper
|
x
| |||
Chili powder
|
x
|
x
| ||
Cloves
|
x
| |||
Bay leaves
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Carrots
|
x
| |||
Dried apricots
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Bell pepper
|
x
|
x
| ||
Banana
|
x
|
x
| ||
Tomato paste
|
x
|
x
| ||
Wine vinegar
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Beef stock
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Water
|
x
|
I added more beef stock instead
| ||
Apricot jam
|
x
|
x
|
x
| |
Yoghurt
|
x
|
x
| ||
Buttermilk
|
x
|
Instead of yoghurt
|
My Ingredients and Directions
Serves - 3-4
Ingredients
1 lb stew beef, cut into small pieces
1 diced Bell pepper
2 cups diced onion
1 sliced banana
1 large garlic clove
1.5 tablespoons fresh ginger
1.5 teaspoons chili powder
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1.5 teaspoons ground coriander
1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon curry powder
1.5 teaspoons ground turmeric
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Canola oil
2 bay leaves
2 ¼ cups meat stock
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
1/3 cup apricot jam/fruit spread
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons plain yoghurt
Next time, I will add:
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper
Directions
Heat the oil in a large pot or saucepan.
Over high heat, fry the onions and garlic in a large pot, stirring continuously. Add the ginger, curry powder and all the spices and continue stirring for a minute. Season to taste with pepper and add the salt.
In a separate pan, fry the meat until it is browned on all sides.
Add the vinegar and stock, plus all the other remaining ingredients (except the apricot jam and yoghurt). Cover. Reduce heat. Simmer over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until everything is tender, approximately 1 1/2 hours.
Stir in the apricot jam and the yoghurt a few minutes before serving.
Serve this curry over yellow rice