Asian Style Beef Pie

The weather forgot to be winter for a week, but the cold is back with a vengeance.
So another little tummy warmer for the family dinner or smart enough for entertaining casually.
This is not strictly a pie nor Asian except for the Thai spices. The flavours are subtle and the pie is quite rich, with the addition of the pureed sweet potato. You could always use pastry or another variety of potato as an alternative.
It can be totally made with the inclusion of the topping and sit waiting to pop into the oven to warm through half an hour before serving. Delicious and easy.

1 kilo beef chuck cubed
Rylstone olive oil
2 onions chopped finely
2 carrots sliced and quartered
2 cloves garlic crushed
1tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
3 teaspoons palm sugar
1 large red chilli or 2 small very finely chopped.
750 ml beef stock
2 shallots

2 large sweet potato or 500 gram
large knob butter
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons crushed ginger
large knob butter
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons crushed ginger
3 tablespoons toasted chopped pecans ( optional )

 Drizzle beef with oil and brown in a casserole dish in two or three batches over a med heat.
Add the carrots onions and garlic and fry gently for a couple of minutes stirring it through the beef.
Add the stock, soy sauce, fish sauce,  palm sugar and chilli and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for one and half hours. Add chopped spring onions just before serving.
Steam sweet potato and mix through butter and milk with the crushed ginger. Add the pecans last if using.
Divide the mixture into four ovenproof ramekins and top with the sweet potato and warm in a moderate oven for about half an hour.
Serve with steamed Asian greens.

Beef Braised in Coconut Milk

Oh the weather is so cold and miserable at the moment, it is winter after all. The season to stay in doors and cook steaming pots of tasty warming meals. For me these days are perfect for  a slow cooked dish , filling the house with beautiful cooking aromas. So many to choose from, but today I have chosen a dish that is a curry, a beef rendang  it is a relatively dry curry, Indonesian in origin.  Don't let the list of ingredients put you off. Once prepared, sit down and snuggle under a rug, read a book, watch a movie or do some sewing, bliss! Oh you do have to get up and give it a stir every so often !


1 Kilo Beef shoulder, blade or gravy beef

Spice Mix

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 large  french shallots peeled and finely sliced ( you can use onion if you wish )

8 large garlic cloves peeled and chopped

30 grams turmeric fresh if available otherwise a tablespoon of turmeric powder

35 grams of ginger peeled and chopped

35 grams of galangal (this looks a bit like ginger and is available at any good fruit and vegetable shops

35 grams of candlenut ( substitute Brazil nuts if unavailable ) roasted and chopped

3-4 fresh large red  chillies  halved sliced  and seeded ( the dish does require chillies you can use approx 100 gram less or more depending on your tastes)

3/4 teaspoons crushed black pepper

2 lemongrass stalks peeled and finely chopped
3 kaffir lime leaves bruised
3 curry leaves bruised
800 mls  of coconut milk or  2 large tins
800 mls of beef or chicken stock
Note you can use all coconut milk if you wish which is more the tradition but I do find it a little too rich so use half and half. If using all coconut milk it will evaporate faster than half milk and half stock, so you may want to reduce the amount of stock. You can also cook on the stove top for a little longer to reduce the liquid.

Chop the beef into 2-5 approx cm cubes and set aside.
Prepare the spice mix. You can use a mortar and pestle or a food processor, if you have one, otherwise just chop all the ingredients, don't have to be too fine, leaving lemongrass, lime leaves and curry leaves out.
Use a heavy braising or casserole pot, and fry off the spice mix until fragrant and darker in colour. Add half the coconut milk and slowly bring to a simmer. Add the chopped lemongrass, and bruised lime and curry leaves, then your beef cubes to the pot . Simmer gently for a couple of minutes before adding the stock and remaining coconut milk. Cover with lid and place in a slow oven 160 for approx 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender and most of the liquid absorbed.
If the meat is not tender enough but the liquid is absorbed you can continue to cook adding small amounts of coconut milk, on the stove top.
Serve in bowls with steamed rice, yoghurt, a beautiful chutney like Baxters Mango maybe some lime pickle and garnish with some shredded lime leaves or fresh chilli.