What could be better than a hearty and healthful beetroot stew for a winter dinner? A beetroot curry of course!

This month’s BBC Good Food Magazine had a slow cooker version (Jan 2014 p56). Well sort of, it was slow cooked, but only for a couple of hours on the hob. It also didn’t have any chunks of beetroot, it was only in there as part of the stock for a beef curry. Checking their website I found a chunkier beef & beetroot curry, but it wasn’t slow cooked. So I sort of mashed up the recipes to make my own version.

So I wanted my version to be mostly about the beetroot, so 3 large beetroot in chunks, plus another one grated, with only 250g of lean beef. So super healthful – unless you take into account the naan I served it with!

The naan was the same one as I made previously, cooked in a frying pan not the oven. I got the same problem with it being too wet… so I’ve changed the recipe and reduced the amount of water you use from 1/2 cup to 1/3 for future use.

Ingredients:

• 3 beetroots, whole
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 3 cardamon pods
• 1 raw beetroot, grated
• 1 red onion
• 1 yellow onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 thumb sized bits of ginger
• 1 tsp hot chilli powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• salt & pepper
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 250g stewing beef
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 pinch chilli flakes

Chop stalks and root off the 3 beetroot, boil in salted water until a skewer goes in without too much resistance, about 25 minutes. Let it cook then peel and chop into bit-sized pieces USING LATEX GLOVES!

Toast cardamon pods & seeds in dry frying pan. Add to microwaveable bowl. Mince ginger and garlic and add to the bowl. Finely chop the onions, add to the bowl. Peel the beetroot then grate into the bowl USING LATEX GLOVES! Add chilli, coriander & cumin powder to the bowl. Finallyadd the oil to the bowl and give a good stir.

Following the America’s Test Kitchen rules for slow cooking, he onion mix gets microwaved to both soften the onions and bloom the spices in the oil. We microwaved for 3 minutes, stirred, then gave it another 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes, onion mix, stock, beetroot and beef to the slow cooker and stir, and finally add the cinnamon stick.

Cook for 8 hours on low, adding a pinch of chilli flakes near the end, then server with naan.

Mmm! This was delicious! Really hearty, with a wonderful curry flavour with quite a kick to it!