Fragrant, delicious and simple, this beef chuck curry simply melts in your mouth

Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 2 hours 15 minutes
Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS
1kg chuck or boneless shin/gravy beef, cut into 3cm pieces
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4cm piece ginger, finely grated
4 Asian eschalots, thinly sliced
1/3 cup Massaman curry paste
2 cups beef stock
2 sprigs curry leaves
270ml can of light coconut milk
1 large sweet potato, peeled, cut into 2cm pieces
2 baby eggplant, cut into 2 cm pieces
2 tsp fish sauce
200g green beans cut into 3cm lengths
Steamed jasmine rice, fried curry leaves, toasted coconut flakes, to serve

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Place beef in a large snap lock bag or dish, add half the oil, season and mix well.
• Heat a large ovenproof casserole dish over medium-high heat. Brown beef in 2 or 3 batches, to avoid overcrowding of the pan, setting beef aside on a plate.
• Reduce heat to medium and add remaining oil. Add garlic, ginger, eschalots and curry paste and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes. Return beef and any juices to the dish, pour in stock and add curry leaves, stirring well. Bring to the boil, then cover and place in oven. Stir occasionally, adding a little water if needed to keep ingredients just covered for 1.5 hours or until beef is almost tender.
• Add coconut milk, sweet potato, eggplant and fish sauce. Remove lid and cook for a further 30 minutes, or until beef is very tender, adding beans for final 10 minutes of cooking.
• Serve curry with jasmine rice, topped with fried curry leaves and toasted coconut flakes.

COOKING TIPS
If you’ve never cooked with chuck steak before, don’t worry. This cut comes from the neck and works best with low and slow cooking methods, imparting a rich flavour to the dish and creating a tender fall-apart texture. Just ask your butcher or check out the Meat Cuts app for more cooking tips.