I think I probably would've preferred to just toss all the "stick" components of this curry into the sauce and serve it as a saucy, chunky stew. But the Kidlet loves any sort of food on sticks and I had the skewers already anyway, so I figured I'd give it a go. It was fun, but the chunky tomato sauce didn't really cling to the meat very well. Serving it as a more traditional curry with chunks of meat in a savoury sauce would've made it easier to enjoy everything together. Plus it saves you the effort of making the little kebabs!

Somewhat out-of-focus photo of "stick" curry (upper left), served with sing pitta (right) and zarda chaawal (lower left).

"Stick" Curry

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 450g stewing beef, cut into 3cm cubes
• 12-15 cloves garlic
• 4-6 fresh green Thai chilies or 1 green bell pepper, cut into 1cm pieces
• 12-15 nickel-sized slices of peeled fresh ginger
• ~12 short bamboo skewers (10-15cm long)
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 c. diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
• 1 Tbsp. Dhania-Jeera Masala
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. malt vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Place beef in a pot and add water to cover.
2. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes.
3. Drain beef and set aside. (You may save the liquid for anothe use or discard it.)
4. Create small kebabs out of the cooked beef chunks, whole cloves of garlic, ginger slices, and chile/pepper pieces.
5. Heat oil over medium heat.
6. Add cumin seeds and cook for 15-30 seconds.
7. Add onion, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion begins to turn caramel-brown (15-20 minutes).
8. Add the tomato, masala, turmeric, and salt and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally for ~5 minutes.
9. Add the skewers and coat them with sauce.
10. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
11. Remove skewers to a serving platter.
12. Stir the vinegar into the sauce and pour it over the skewers.
13. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.