Article: The Independent: Braised beef cheek spicy jungle curry with green peppercorns, fresh herbs and seasonal vegetables.

This recipe was published in The Independent with the article,

“Seasonal affective disorder: Can you eat to improve your mood?”

Follow the link to read the full article.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 pot jungle curry Payst

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp coriander roots, washed and finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, peeled

2 tbsp wild ginger, krachai, peeled and roughly chopped (regular ginger can be used instead)

½ tbsp coarse sea salt

200g beef cheek, trimmed (any slow cook beef can be used)

2 whole stick lemongrasses, bruised in a pestle

20g galangal, bruised in a pestle

4 kaffir lime leaves, torn slightly to release flavour

2 tbsp table salt

1 whole garlic head, sliced in two across the cloves

4 banana shallots, chopped in half

1 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce

10g hot Vietnamese mint (optional)

10g betel leaves (optional, spinach can be used instead)

10g coriander

10g Thai sweet basil

10g fresh curry leaves

30g new potatoes, chopped in half

30g green beans

1 head pak choi, core removed and chopped into bite sized pieces.

Fresh chillies to taste

Method:

1. Firstly, braise the beef cheeks. In a large oven-proof pan submerge the beef cheeks in water and then add the lemongrass sticks, bruised galangal, lime leaves, banana shallots, table salt and whole garlic. Cover the surface of the liquid with parchment paper and the pan with tin foil to protect from the direct heat of the oven and then cook in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 5-6 hours (you can also use a slow cooker on a high heat) . Check the beef cheeks before removing from the oven, they should easily be chopped with a spoon with tenderness. When cooked, remove from the oven and leave to one side to use immediately.

2. In the meantime, cook out the paste. When cooking a jungle curry, it is fried in 2 stages and then boiled, this is for depth of flavour. To start, pound the coriander root, wild ginger and garlic cloves to a paste, using the sea salt as an abrasive.

3. Next heat the vegetable oil in a wok or non-stick pan and then proceed to fry out the paste, scraping and stirring constantly. When the paste begins to darken slightly, add the jungle curry paste and continue to cook out the paste, making sure it doesn’t stick and burn, at this point add the makrut lime leaves and the lemongrass from the beef braising stock. Continue to fry the paste until it begins to darken in colour and then add the sugar and fry for a further minute until the sugar has caramelised and the paste has darkened a little more.

4. Next de-glaze the pan with the fish sauce, 300ml of beef braising stock and bring to a simmer. Once simmering add the potatoes and continue to simmer for 10 minutes until the potatoes are beginning to soften. At this point add the pak choi, green beans and beef cheeks and use a little more braising stock if needed, then continue to simmer until all ingredients are softened and edible.

5. Lastly add all the herbs and gently toss them through the hot curry and then serve immediately, the curry should be loose, yet rich and spicy with a salty edge. Serve the beef cheek jungle curry in bowls with steamed jasmine rice, if you like top with crispy garlic, shallots and fresh chillies