Sweet & Sour Clove Curry

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Sweet & Sour Clove Curry

Suitable for beef, pork & chicken.

A sophisticated, unusual and moderately fast curry recipe to put robust zing – and a touch of the mysterious – back into weekday dinners. And no, cloves are merely one of the dominating spice ingredients, not the main component.

This curry is thoroughly infused with the aroma and taste of cloves. The significant level of sweetness tempers the somewhat dark and overbearing aromatic nature of the cloves. This sweetness is itself offset with a moderating, fruity acidity, thereby preventing the entire ensemble from toppling over the edge of the gustatory cliff; cymbals, kettle drums and all. Surprisingly, everything works efficiently – and quite harmoniously – together for an unusual and robust end result.

Sweet & Sour Clove Curry with Samp & Pickled Onions, Overhead view

Not everyone is a fan of sweetness with ground beef, thus the application of pickled red onions to somewhat impatiently get everyone to play along nicely.

Thoroughly browning the onions provides a caramelly and sweetish savoury foundation for the following sugar to build on. Caramelizing onions is somewhat of a skill, as the onions tend to char very quickly near the end if left unsupervised for longer than 2.746 seconds. Near constant stirring is an absolute requirement towards the last third of the process.

The seemingly hefty glug of oil is very important for transferring heat efficiently from the pan to the browning onions and simultaneously preventing sticking and subsequent charring of the onions. Also, the oil extracts most of the water insoluble flavour compounds from the herbs and spices, significantly increasing their availability for the diner’s enjoyment.

Palm sugar – depending on the source – has a caramellish, almost toffee like taste and a somewhat softer sweetness than plain white sugar. I suspect coconut and date palms are not as efficient at producing high levels of sap sucrose when compared to sugar cane. Boiling palm sap down, and not refining the end product, also retains the natural flavours and taste of the source material. Thus palm (or coconut) sugar is a worthwhile ingredient for this recipe.

Palm sugar cakes are generally surprisingly hard – a direct result of being unrefined sugar. A box grater efficiently tackles the problem of reducing the cakes to a usable material. A very large mortar & pestle will also make short order of individual cakes. However, be very careful of going at the cakes with a large knife. Chipping the irregularly shaped cakes may result in unexpected slipping and deflections of the blade and subsequent messy personal injury.

If there is any curry left tomorrow morning, and the Raiders of the Lost Fridge didn’t surgically strike during the night, treat yourself to a slice of moderately well toasted homemade white bread slathered with warmed-up clove curry and piled high with creamy, mushy scrambled eggs. Your soul will be vastly appreciative of the gesture of self kindness.

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SWEET & SOUR CLOVE CURRY

– PRINT RECIPE –

Recipe yields:

4 Portions

Preparation time:

± 15 Minutes

Cooking time:

± 45 Minutes

Difficulty level:

Easy

Ingredients:

Lean ground beef	500g

Medium white onions, well diced	2
Sunflower oil	30ml
Sugar	15ml
Chopped garlic	30ml

Mild curry powder *	5ml
Ground coriander powder	5ml
Ground turmeric	5ml
Ground cloves	2.5ml
Ground bay leaf powder	1.2ml
Commercial fine black pepper	1.2ml
Ground cardamom	1.2ml

White or Palm sugar	45ml
Corn starch	5ml
Salt	5ml
Lime juice	30ml
Apple cider vinegar	30ml
Water	±60ml

Frozen peas, defrosted	100g

Optional:
Oven roasted carrots, roughly diced	100g
Frozen corn kernels, defrosted	75g

* ROBERTSONS Raja Medium Curry powder is a good choice here.

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Method:

Sauté the ground beef in two batches over medium high heat, browning it well with each batch. Add 15ml sunflower oil to each batch if it keeps sticking to the pan whilst browning. Use continuous chopping and shredding motions to thoroughly separate the ground beef particles. The browning process will require approx. 15 minutes. Transfer the browned beef to a covered bowl and set aside until needed.
In the same pan, over medium heat, add the sunflower oil and diced onion, mix well and sauté with frequent stirring until the onions start to brown. Sprinkle the sugar over and continue to sauté over medium low heat – with near constant stirring – until the onions are well browned, but not burned or charring. This step will easily require 20 minutes depending on the type of onion used. Add the chopped garlic and mix thoroughly.
Adjust the heat to low.
While the ground beef and onions are browning: add all the dry spices together in a small bowl and mix well. Add the sugar, corn flour, salt, lime juice and vinegar. Mix to form a thin slurry – add some of the water, if necessary.
Add the spice, sugar & juice slurry to the sautéed onion and garlic mixture. Stir and mix thoroughly. Add some of the water if the onions and spice mixture thickens too fast.
Add the reserved browned beef and stir through with two spoons until thoroughly mixed. Add the remaining water if the curry seems too thick. Cover and warm over low heat until the contents start to simmer. Adjust the heat to allow the pan to simmer slowly for 5 minutes, covered. Stir frequently.
Add the defrosted peas (and carrots and corn kernels, if used), mix well, cover and allow to return to simmering point. Remove from the heat and set aside for 5 minutes to allow the flavours to develop and infuse.
Serve to great acclaim, and renewed respect, for your culinary prowess.

Sweet & Sour Clove Curry with Samp & Pickled Onions, Formal Lay-out

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Comments:

Serve with Pickled Red Onions.
Thoroughly browning the ground beef will add quite a bit of mouth texture to the final dish. This calls for an accompanying carbohydrate with some backbone, such as samp, grits, cous-cous, brown rice or even Krummelpap – crumbly maize porridge (a traditional South African specialty). On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with inundating fluffy, creamy mash or aromatic basmati rice with this flavourfull and robust ground beef curry if your heart leans in that direction.
Be careful of browning chicken or pork too far, else they dry out and become stringy.
If ground bay leaf powder is unobtainable: crush 5 – 6 large dried bay leaves into pieces and blitz them in a blade type coffee bean grinder. Sift through a fine tea sieve and re-blitz the residue. Repeat once more if the grinder’s blades are blunt. Dump the residue from the last sieving also into the spice mix.