Name: Jungle Curry Stew
Ingredients: kaffir lime leaves; beef stew meat; brown sugar; palm sugar; red curry paste; asian eggplant; coconut oil; vegetable; fresh thai chiles; brine; green peppercorns; green beans; salt; eggplant; limes; fish sauce; fresh thai basil sprigs

Liana Krissoff

Jungle Curry Stew

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Slow Cook Modern

By Liana Krissoff

Published 2017

About

WITH sweet corn curry cakes

ALSO GOOD WITH coconut oil sticky rice OR pandan water

The beef in this brothy, spicy dish—no coconut milk here—will be quite tender and almost falling apart after eight hours, and completely infused with flavor. If you can find tiny green eggplants, use a big handful of those instead of the diced regular eggplant—their bitterness plays well with the slightly sweet broth.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons red curry paste
1 tablespoon grated palm sugar or brown sugar
1½ pounds (680 g) beef stew meat
3 kaffir lime leaves
2 or more fresh Thai chiles, split but left whole
1 tablespoon vegetable or coconut oil
1 thin Asian eggplant, or ½ small globe eggplant, diced
3 ounces (85 g) green beans, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
Salt
6 sprigs jarred green peppercorns in brine, drained and rinsed (optional)
½ cup (20 g) fresh Thai basil sprigs
2 tablespoons fish sauce, or more to taste
Juice of 1 or more limes

Method

Morning

Pour 3 cups (720 ml) water into the slow cooker and stir in the curry paste and palm sugar. Add the beef, lime leaves, and Thai chiles. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Evening

In a large skillet or sauté pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add the eggplant and green beans and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the eggplant is golden and the vegetables are just tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the vegetables to the cooker along with the peppercorn sprigs, if using, the basil and the fish sauce. Add lime juice and more fish sauce to taste. Serve.