Kabocha Pumpkin Beef Curry, made with SN4

SPICE CURRY SPICE PACK (Spice Curry Spice Pack Symphony No.4 / SN4) makes this Kabocha Pumpkin Beef Curry.

Symphony No.4 in the Inspice curry series is a blend of 12 spices and 2 fruits, where depth and spice sit inside a sweetness.

This beef curry, full of the gentle sweetness of kabocha pumpkin and the savour of beef topside, is a friend to anyone with a busy day. Kabocha in season brings plenty with it, and the floury texture is a favourite with children and adults alike. The curry sauce, blended from 12 spices and 2 fruits, brings natural sweetness and depth together in a way that tastes of home. It comes together quickly, which makes it well suited to dinner on a busy evening. A candidate for a regular at your table.

If this is your first spice curry, reading the articles below first will give you a better result.

When your spice curry turns out watery Thinking about the chicken skin in a chicken curry Are the whole spices in the starter bag meant to be eaten? Which spice do you add when you want more heat?

Ingredients (serves 4)

• SN4 / starter spices (the bag of whole spices): 1 bag
• SN4 / powder spices (the bag of ground spices): 1 bag
• Beef topside: 400g
• Kabocha pumpkin: 150g
• Canned tomatoes: 400g / whole tomatoes are our suggestion; tomato purée also works
• Onion: 1
• Garlic (grated): 1 tbsp
• Ginger (grated): 1 tbsp
• Soy sauce: 1 tbsp
• Vinegar: 2 tsp
• Butter 30g
• Salt: 1 tsp plus more to taste
• Oil: 3 tbsp (use whichever oil you prefer)
• Water: 200ml

Preparation

• Grate the garlic and ginger.
  
  

  If you have no grater, chop them finely

  
  
• Cut the onion into wedges (or chop it finely).
  
  
• Beef topside: if you have it in a block, salt it all over, cut it into cubes of whatever size you like and leave it in the fridge for about 1 hour.
  
  
• Kabocha pumpkin: cut it into easy-to-eat cubes, skin on

Method

1. Pour the oil: 3 tbsp into a pan, add the garlic and ginger and heat over low heat.
   
   
2. Once the garlic and ginger become fragrant, add the onion and salt: 1 tsp, stir everything together, then turn the heat to high.
   Splashing in water so it does not burn, and cooking it properly until it is amber, is what makes the dish.
   
   
3. Cook for about 15 minutes, splashing in water as you go, and once the onion is amber, switch to medium heat, add the SN4 starter spices (the bag of whole spices) and cook them briefly.
   
   Chopping the cherry finely helps it blend into the curry.
   
   
   
4. Add the canned tomatoes: 400g and cook them well, crushing as you go.
   
   
5. Add the beef topside: 400g (the meat you rested in the fridge) and cook until it has coloured all over.
   
   
6. Add the powder spices and cook, working them through.
   
   
7. Add the soy sauce: 1 tbsp and vinegar: 2 tsp and stir them in, then add the water: 200ml and the kabocha pumpkin: 150g; once it comes to the boil, cover the pan and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes.
   
   
8. Melt in the butter: 30g, reduce until it is as thick as you like, then taste and adjust with salt, and it is done.
   (Adding it a pinch at a time until it tastes right to you is what makes the difference.)
   
   

Inspice spice curry spice sets contain none of the chilli, cayenne or red pepper that usually carries the heat, so add as much as you like to suit your taste.

What makes it good: splashing in water, and amber onion How far you cook the onion changes the finished dish more than anything else. “It came out watery”, “the tomato tastes too sharp”, “it lacks depth” — the single biggest cause of all three is moving on to the next step before the onion has gone amber. For this recipe, cook it for a full 12 to 15 minutes and keep going until it is properly amber. The points are: keep the heat at medium to high spread the onion evenly in the pan and leave it, then stir; spread it evenly and leave it again, then stir — and repeat whenever you stir and feel something catching on the base of the pan, splash in a little water (in our experience, about 2 tbsp of water each time, roughly five times in all) Splashing in water carries the savour the onion releases through the whole pan and keeps it from catching while it turns amber. Letting it colour just enough to need a splash of water is, if anything, exactly what draws the flavour out. It takes a little time and attention, but it is the step that decides the result, so give it the care it needs.

Buy the spice packs here