Beef and Kabocha Curry

Food is everywhere we look. A lot of times I feel overwhelmed by choices. I mean, it’s so easy to just open an app and order whatever type of food you want. It arrives with little to no fan fare. I don’t have to plan or think about what we may or may not have available to cook at home. That said, eating at home is a way to honour both of our intentions for the year.

I really like eating seasonally. It’s often not something people think about since modern day grocers provide access to berries in winter and apples at the height of summer. Even though they’re always available, in season produce is cheaper than out of season produce. That makes me happy.

If you know me, you know that I don’t really enjoy cooking, and I can’t be bothered to follow a recipe closely. I tend to call myself a “method” person rather than a recipe person. What that ultimately means is that I tend to decide that I want some sort of food or want to use some specific ingredient and then I skim recipes to get an idea of what I can make. I do a lot by feel and have difficulty giving recipes.

When we were planning out this recipe, we decided we wanted to focus on a seasonal item. We both adore leeks, and they’re in season. Double win! It’s still technically winter where we are, and even if it’s not terribly cold a curry seemed like a nice idea. Armed with the idea of a curry, we headed to a local grocer to see what other lovely things we could find.

We found some lovely leeks and we found some small kabochas! If you’ve never had kabocha, it’s a type of winter squash that tastes a lot like a sugaring pumpkin. It’s firm, and holds up well to longer cooking times, so it was perfect to add in this curry. One of our favourite cookbooks is called Curry Bible by Jacki Passmore. We adapted one of the recipes found there to make this. You can check out the gallery below if you want to see our step by step process.

Beef and Kabocha Curry

We chose to serve this dish over rice, but feel free to eat it as is or the use the grain of your choice.

From left to right, back to front:

Mint, kabocha, leeks, serrano peppers, cilantro

If you’ve never used leeks before, you need to slice off the dark green tops. The lighter green pieces are the bits that have the mild flavour most are looking for.

Once the dark tops are cut off, there is usually a lighter green center that you can still use.

I don’t prefer to wash my leeks before they’re sliced. Leeks have layers, and often dirt is trapped between the layers. The leeks need to be washed after slicing to ensure all the dirt is removed.

I didn’t bother to halve the round part of the leek, and you really don’t have to when you’re caramelising them. Be sure to break up the rounds as you stir.

While you’re carmelising the leeks, prepare the kabocha. The squashe needs to be halved the seeds scooped out. I’m scooping the seeds directly into a bowl for our compost bin.

Once the seeds are scooped out, the kabocha needs to be peeled. The skin isn’t particularly thick, and I think the contrast of the colours are lovely.

Sliced kabocha! It’s so pretty. I did ultimately cube them. You can see that some of the slices need to be sliced down more so that cubes are roughly 2cmx2cm.

The bowl has the carmelised leek bits. I used pre-minced garlic and powdered ginger. I find it easier to have them pre-measured before I toss them into the pot with the second leek. I let the leeks soften just a bit before I tossed in the beef and let the meat brown a bit.

While the meat is browning a bit, I measured out the tumeric, garam masala, and fennel. I know that a lot of people have pre-ground spices, but most of the spices we keep are whole. I really like the smell of freshly ground fennel.

Once the meat is about tender as you’d like, add the kabocha and two sliced chilis. Cover it, and cook until the kabocha is soft and the meat is tender. Side note: We like spicy food, so I just sliced the chilis and dropped them in. If you don’t care for something so spicy, seed the chilis before you toss them in.

Homemade chicken stock! It’s my favourite way to get all the good bits out of a whole chicken. Most recipes call for water, but I really like adding bits of flavour at every opportunity, and I like the extra nutrients that you get from homemade stocks. You could absolutely use water or any other type of broth or stock. Add just enough to cover the meat and toss in a bay leaf.

Once the meat is as tender as you’d like, cut the heat. Stir in the chopped garnish of your choice (we used mint, but cilantro was also an option), the previously carmelised leeks, and the final chili, chopped finely. Again, if you’d like the dish to be less spicy, remove the seeds in the chili.

Beef and Kabocha Curry: Serves 4-6

• 2 leeks

• 3 tablespoons ghee, oil, or butter

• 3 cloves garlic, crushed

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger

• 500-700g beef

• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

• 2 teaspoons garam masala

• 1/2 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds

• 700ml chicken stock

• 450g kabocha, peeled and cubed

• 3 Serrano chilies, sliced

• 1 bay leaf

• salt and black pepper

• Chopped fresh cilantro or mint leaves

Finely slice one leek, and chop the remainder very finely. Fry the sliced leek in the ghee, oil, or butter over medium heat, until very well coloured, stirring frequently. Lift out and set aside.

Add the chopped leek and garlic to the pan and fry until lightly browned. Add the beef, ginger, turmeric, garam masala, fennel seeds, and bay leaf with enough chicken stock to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the beef is almost tender.

Add the pumpkin, 2 of the chilies, bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste, and simmer until beef reached desired tenderness. Drop in the remainder of the chilies, fried leek slices, and garnish of choice, then stir through. Check and adjust seasonings, and stir in cilantro or mint before serving.

Adapted from: Curry Bible, by Jacki Passmore