Does it happen to you too, that sometimes you are out of recipe ideas even though you have cookbooks waiting for you in a corner of the house or an impressive collection of saved recipes on your laptop? None of the dishes are tempting you and even your friends best ideas wont help? Occasionally I have that problem…. This happens to me mostly whenever I am too lazy to go out to get some fresh groceries or for example when the Electricity is down once again and I cant even go online to visit my favorite food bloggers out there to replenish my brain juice.
Some months ago, when the rain was falling in buckets and the power was cut for already most of the day and I had nothing better to do then cook something together in candle lights, I created a Beef dish which amazed us in terms of flavours. Have you ever cooked in the dark? Its a 100% challenge! Now most of the people wouldn’t think of cooking at that time, but we here are quite used to the fact that lights sometimes simply won’t come back so soon and to go out in the monsoon rains, into flooded streets to get food from outside isn’t an option either (nothing will be open). By now I don’t even mind cooking in the dark, you get used to it! I figured out too that I cook up some great dishes between shadows, food of great flavours. Maybe its the fact that I cant use my eyes that much. You know how they say that blind people have interesting abilities, that their other senses are more sharp?
That fateful day, armed with a torch and some good quality beef undercut, I threw together a rich seasoned but not pungent Beef gravy. I have no idea if there is a cultural dish out there which resembles my recipe. The inspiration came because I was getting the taste for Couscous and I needed something what was going with it. My conclusion is that the plate has a bunch of Asian flavours but it fits so well with Moroccan Couscous! Somebody who isn’t into pungent food will enjoy my beef pot because the coconut milk at the end smooths it all down with its relaxing end notes.
Random thoughts… Recently I noticed a lots of new cooking competitions in the TV, some are ok but some remind me more of Drama shows. Cooking shows exist for ages now, why don’t they throw in a challenge where people have to cook in the dark. That would be interesting! what do you think?
Ingredients
- 400 g undercut Beef
- 1 Tbs Ginger Garlic paste
- 1 Tbs Coconut Vinegar
- 1/2 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 Tbs Soysauce
- pinch Salt
- pinch Pepper
- 1/2 Tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1Tbs Olive Oil
- 1 Onion - cut/chop into cubes
- 1 small Carrot - cut into small cubes
- 1 small Aubergine - cut into small cubes
- 1 Tomato - cut into small cubes
- 4 cloves Garlic - chop fine
- 150 ml Water
- 4 Curry leaves
- 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon Powder
- 1 red Kashmiri Chilli
- 1/2 Tso Turmeric Powder
- pinch Asafoetida
- pinch Salt
- pinch Pepper
- 70 ml Coconutmilk
Instructions
- Before you cook the Beef, you have to keep it to marinate for some time. Start by rinsing and cuting the Beef into bite size cubes and add it to a mixing bowl together with all the above mentioned marination ingredients. Mix and massage the marination into the beef pieces so that the flavoures are well covering the meat. Keep it standing for 1 hour in the fridge.
- Just before you want to cook the meal, cut the Onion, Carrot, Aubergine, Tomato and chop the Garlic cloves. Keep a pot ready on slow heat with the Olive Oil and fry the Onion translucent.
- Add in the Carrot, aubergine, Tomato and Garlic and stir fry for 3 minutes then add the Beef cubes, continuing stir frying for an other 3 minutes
- Now pour the water in and add the curry leaves, cinnamon, chilli, Turmeric powder, Asafoetida, Salt and Pepper. Bring it all to a boil and then take down the heat to allow it to cook slowly, covered for 20 minutes. Stir occasionaly, just to make sure that nothing sticks at the bottom.
- Once your pot is finnished cooked add in the Coconutmilk and mix it well, cook it for an other 3 minutes and your dish is ready to be served hot.
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{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh yes this happens often with me as well..I go blank at times as to what to cook for dinner…even though the recipes books in the shelves will be staring at me with expectation. I opt for a simple dinner at that time instead of breaking my head for an exotic menu
Beautiful as always, Helene! I remember the power cuts when I was in India. Never fun, but you learn to get used to it and do other things: like cook! I would help my mom do that all the time! Although I would never cook this dish since it has beef, I assume the beef could be substituted for any other protein? Like…tofu, chickpeas, etc.?
Yes sure try it out with tofu or chickpeas, but the taste wont match the beef version since the meats flavoures fit well together with the spices and coconutmilk.
That looks absolutely amazing! I’m sorry to hear about the loss of power, but this is perfectly inspired.
Yum! I like the addition of coconut milk in any dish. This looks great.
I love the idea of adding the coconut milk to the beef. This is lovely.
I’ve never cooked int he dark but I’d imagine that it would be a huge challenge. Well done!
Haha you are funny Helene. If I cook in darkness I might end up catching fire on myself. I’m clumsy like that.
Hmmm this looks delicious. I really love coconut flavor in both savory and sweet dish. I love that you added eggplant in here. Must be delicious sucking up all the yummy flavors!
OMG this stew sounds incredible. I’ve. Ever seen one with coconut milk. I can only imagine how flavorful this is.
By the way, somehow when I touched your name on my comments section it deleted your comment. It’s beyond me why that happened but feel free and I hope you will repost your comment. So sorry!
Vicki @ in-HomeCulinaryClasses.blogspot.com.
Oh, I bet your kitchen smelled amazing when this dish was simmering away! And I love that you’ve added coconut milk
That is so good of you to battle it out in your kitchen with no power. I’ve tried that and it’s so hard to see if the meat has been seared and if it’s been cooked through and if the onions are now transparent etc. We used to live in an area where the power would go out every time there was a storm. I gave up with trying to cook in those conditions and used to drive to an Indian restaurant where they cooked with gas! Your dish looks delicious and full of flavour xx
Ah, I’m guessing your kitchen cooking appliances are gas powered in that case? If the power went out at mine I’d be royally messed up. I’d love to have a gas stove but alas it’s all electric. I think I’d just give up then and order some pizza or something
I love the colour of your dish – it looks really rich and tasty – though I’d be cooking it with the lights on I think!
yeah we use gas. Nothing is open in the rains except dominos pizza which is by the way the worst fast food chain I have ever tried and its expencive. anyway I had to addept right? I am sure you enjoy the gravy Charles.
This is right up my alley! I love coconut milk with anything. I get a bit addicted to those cooking shows sometimes. My favorite is Drive Ins, Diners and Dives…very Americana, and I always like those little holes in the wall somewhere to eat. The other is Chopped, where they have the mystery items in the basket, and they are usually these top chefs from around the world. That’s a bit like cooking in the dark. You should have a show Helene!;)
I dont know any of those shows u r telling me here. except chopped I think so, but not sure either! I ll check for that online, thx. =D
I remember crocheting in the dark, with just alittle dim light to use. I guess our other senses come into play at those times. I will have to try cooking in the dark now:-) This sounds really delicious, a perfect comfort food:-) Hugs, Terra
haha… well if you have ever a power shutdown in your state then you can try out around. =D
Oh yes, I have more cookbooks and magazines than I know what to do with and I still run out of ideas sometimes. I give you major props for cooking this in the dark! Love the idea of adding coconut milk to gravy!
Oh yes, story of my life too
Sometimes I frantically search and search with the piles of cook books and magazines on my side 
and oh, cooking in darkness sounds so much fun. If we are able to eat in darkness (because our hand knows the mouth!), we must be able to cook in darkness too 
This beef curry sounds wonderful. One of my friends used to make a similar preparation with chicken
That looks so scrumptious! I am a sucker for dishes made with coconut milk.
Cheers,
Cheers,
Rosa
Cooking in the dark? Your my hero. I don’t think I could manage that, but I can relate to the state where no bright ideas are just popping to the head. Just in those cases I usually call it quits and order in pizza. This beef dish looks so good!
We just had Earth Day and Earth Hour and we participated by cooking in the dark too! It was loads of fun. The beef stew with coconut gravy sounds delicious. But sadly, I don’t think cooking in the dark would work out, since we would be watching a black screen!
It’s amazing how inventive you can be when resources are limited. We had a series of blackouts last year in Wicklow and one evening I ended up assembling the meal by candlelight and cooking over an open fire. Kinda romantic for one night only but I wouldn’t like to have to cook over the fire too often. Love your rich beef dish – something magical happens when aubergine and coconut collude.
I agree, its a creativity booster. =) You said what I thought aubergine and coconut together makes a great pair.
Beautiful Recipe!!!
You know after reading your post I just remembered all the power cuts back in India… You know it was uncomfortable but fun in a way, all family use to come to one room to prevent the generator from dying out with extra load….
I too get lazy for grocery so much these days, I need to be more inventive like you.
i love gravy! growing up in the south we had gravy with almost every meal. This one though is very unique and i love the idea of coconut flavor in it. Great site!
The story on powercut brought back wonderful memories
This beef curry is making me hungry. Love that you have added eggplant and coconut milk to the curry.
Fortunately, I’ve never had to cook in the dark but I’m impressed with your capability and how great the photos turned out despite the lack of light. Of course, if the power goes out here, I probably wouldn’t be cooking as the stove/oven are both powered by electricity