A rich, comforting meal prep that warms your heart and soul. Tender beef and potatoes in a hearty gravy hits the spot when served with rice.

Time: 3/5
Having the ingredients prepped saves a lot of time.

Effort: 3/5
Not much knife work, but curry is a bit more difficult to clean up afterwards.

A Running Start

Prepping ingredients rather than whole meals is one way of keeping your options open. Instead of eating the same thing all week, you can turn them into fresh and interesting dishes with small tweaks and additions.

This is what I did with a big 3lb value pack of boneless beef rib fingers, a tough cut that turns tender and gelatinous with long slow simmering. It cooks and eats a lot like brisket, except I can get it for cheaper. I made a huge batch of soup with all of the meat, served some of it, and reserved the rest.

Some of that extra meat had gone into a saucy stir fry with Chu Hou sauce, but the rest of it is earmarked for this rich coconut milk curry that I have been looking forward to all week. Although, in truth, the beef is mainly there to enrich the curry with meaty flavours that ultimately benefit the potatoes that are the actual star of the show.

Like I said before, there’s no shame in using store bought ingredients as a jumpstart for your home cooked meals. I once used a Thai curry paste to kickstart a one pot 1 hour chicken and pumpkin curry meal prep, and the results were indistinguishable from a restaurant. Don’t let overly ambitious online food creators gaslight you into thinking otherwise.

So, besides using tender beef that is ready at hand, the other big shortcut is to use this curry paste from a jar. To thin it out, you can use whatever ratio of water and coconut milk that gets you the consistency you like. I happen to like my gravies pretty thick, so mine was about half coconut milk, plus whatever water came out of the potatoes.

And that’s the story of how I turned 3lbs of beef from the bargain bin into 3 different and interesting meal preps, totalling 11 portions in all. Along with the time savings, it’s also a pretty budget friendly way to cook because of the additional ingredients you add to the beef – the daikon in the original soup, the bean curd sheets in the Chu Hou sauce stir fry, and the potatoes in this curry.

By the way, there’s a more decadent version of this dish that involves ladling this curry over fried rice, topping it with cheese, and broiling the top in an oven to turn it into a casserole. But tonight I’m happy with just the weeknight version where I enjoy it over plain rice.

Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 0

Dramatis Personae

Served 4.

• 1.5lbs boneless beef rib fingers, previously simmered low and slow until tender
• 500g potatoes, scrubbed well

Sauce

• 165ml coconut milk
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2tsp curry paste

Aromatics

• 1 bunch spring onion
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• Several pieces of ginger
• Several cloves of garlic

Also served with 900g of choisum. Always eat your veggies!

Executive summary

1. Start rice. Wash and cut potatoes into small chunks.
2. Stir fry potatoes until slightly browned.
3. Add aromatics and stir fry until fragrant.
4. Add curry paste, stir briefly, then add the beef.
5. Add the coconut milk, other sauce ingredients, and just enough water to cover the ingredients.
6. Simmer on low with the lid on for about 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
7. Adjust the seasoning, and serve.

Play by Play

I always end up with more potato than I intended, but the wife loves potatoes in curry so it all works out.

The potatoes hold together better, and taste better, if they’re browned for a bit first. The aromatics go in next, followed by the curry paste.

Once the curry paste starts smelling real good, it’s time to add the beef and coconut milk. Cover and simmer, until the potatoes are done.

And we’re done! I like to keep my sauces pretty tight, that way they cling onto the individual pieces and flavour each bite.

That’s some real comfort food right there.

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