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Beef, Cuppylicious!, Meat, Pasta & Rice, Sauces and Dips, The Daring Cooks' Challenge

Beef with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce

Beef with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce

Beef with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce

Total time:  Approximately 1 hour.

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a savory recipe. The original recipe given called for chicken, I used beef, and I substituted heavy cream in place of milk.

1 Tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
24 ounces beef, cubed or diced
Salt to taste

Spice Blend:
1.5 tablespoons (20 ml) garam masala seasoning
1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) black pepper

Sauce:
4 tablespoons (60 ml) butter
1 large onion, cut in half pole to pole
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15-ounce/425 g) can tomato sauce
1/3 cup (80 ml) almond butter
1/2 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
½ to ¾ cup (120 to 180 ml) chicken broth or water, more as needed
1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Almond Cream

Almond Cream

Directions:

Mix together almond butter and heavy cream in a food processor or blender (or whisk until smooth). Set aside.

Stir garam masala, ginger, cinnamon, and pepper together in a small bowl. Set aside.

If desired, pound meat to ¼ inch (6 mm) thickness to promote even cooking. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Heat 1 teaspoon (5 ml) olive oil a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the meat; sauté 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Cook the meat in 2 batches, adding more oil if needed for second batch. Set aside on clean plate and keep warm.

Melt the butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook gently for several minutes to infuse the butter with onion flavor. Keep the heat low to avoid burning the butter; a little color is fine. Add the spice blend and garlic and cook for 1 minute or till fragrant, stirring constantly. Add the tomato sauce, stir well, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Whisk in almond cream until thoroughly combined with tomato sauce. Return to simmer. Add broth (or water) to sauce to reach desired consistency; return to simmer. Add more broth (or water) as needed to thin sauce as desired.

Transfer sliced meat to sauce. Simmer gently for a few minutes until meat is heated through.

Serve meat and sauce over rice. Garnish with chopped parsley and/or sliced almonds if desired.

As this is, I couldn’t possibly label it as Indian, but it definitely has an Indian flavor to it. So if you’re looking for something reminiscent of Indian food, and you’re not a fan of cumin or fenugreek, this is definitely a winner.

8 comments to Beef with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce

  • I like your version better than the chicken. If given the choice i’d pick beef first than chicken. I still have a lot of almond butter from the challenge. I think i’m going to make this.

  • You used beef I think that brilliant and it looks so rich and yes you are right this is the Indian for people who don’t like Indian spices. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

  • Wow, fabuolous job on this challenge! All your nut butter creations look amazing. I especially love your beef peanut curry dish. I’ll have to give that a try. The sauce looks so creamy & delicious.

  • My fave of your nut butter posts. Beef and cream…my kind of women 😉

  • I really wish I had tried this sauce! It looks so good. Great work on the challenge. Also, I love that you highlight your thoughts in the green boxes in each post.

  • Mmm I bet the cream made it very rich and yummy!

  • We agree, we probably couldn’t fairly call it an Indian dish, but the flavors were there without the heat that keeps us mostly away from curries. This was our favorite dish (we stayed with the chicken) of the ones suggested, but we also noted we didn’t get any nuttiness come through which we thought interesting, but not at all devastating.

    Well done on all your dishes!
    Stay JOLLY!
    D&S

  • Oh wow, lots of great nut butter recipes!!!!!!!!Superb!

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