Anne Morgan If you like a thick, oniony curry, Delia Smith’s beef curry is her Beef Curry Dopiaza, for 4 people. You brown chuck steak and a pound of sliced onions, then simmer them with toasted whole spices, coconut and yoghurt. Most of the 3 hours is a quiet, gentle simmer on the hob.
Delia wrote it for How to Cook Book Two in 1999. Dopiaza means double onion, and she says it is what she always orders in Indian restaurants. She admits her version is not authentic, but she thinks it is as good as any she has eaten.
She had written beef curries long before that. Her Complete Cookery Course has a Beef Curry with Whole Spices, and the 1992 edition adds two things the 1983 one did not have. The spices are dry-roasted first, and a spoonful of creamed coconut goes into the sauce.
For another slow, spicy beef dish made with chuck steak, try her chilli recipe. The table below the FAQs sets her four beef curries side by side.
Delia Smith’s Beef Curry Dopiaza
Course: DinnerCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy4
servings20
minutes2
hours40
minutes750
kcalChuck steak and thick half-moons of browned onion, simmered gently with toasted whole spices, ginger, chilli, creamed coconut and yoghurt, then sharpened with lime.
Ingredients
- For the whole spices:
1 rounded teaspoon cumin seeds
1 rounded teaspoon coriander seeds
3 cardamom pods
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon whole fenugreek (or fenugreek powder)
- For the curry:
900g (2lb) chuck steak, cut into 2.5cm (1in) pieces
3 tablespoons groundnut or other flavourless oil
450g (1lb) onions, peeled and sliced into half-moons about 1cm (½in) thick
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon freshly grated root ginger
2 medium tomatoes, skinned and chopped
75g (3oz) creamed coconut
275ml (10fl oz) boiling water
150ml (5fl oz) natural yoghurt
salt and freshly milled black pepper
- To serve:
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander leaves
Directions
- Roast: Put the whole spices in a small frying pan over a medium heat. Toss them for 1-2 minutes, until they look toasted and start to jump.
- Crush: Tip them into a pestle and mortar and crush them to a powder.
- Brown: Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a 2.25 litre (4 pint) lidded flameproof casserole over a high heat. Brown the beef a few pieces at a time, then lift it onto a plate.
- Onions: Add the rest of the oil and, when it is really hot, fry the onions for about 10 minutes, until well browned.
- Garlic: Add the garlic and chillies and cook for 2 minutes more.
- Spices: Return the beef with the crushed spices, the fenugreek powder if using, the turmeric, ginger and tomatoes. Stir everything well.
- Coconut: Grate the creamed coconut into a bowl and whisk in the boiling water until it dissolves. Pour it into the casserole, then add the yoghurt and some seasoning.
- Simmer: Bring it up to a slow simmer, put the lid on and cook very gently for 2 hours.
- Serve: Just before serving, stir in the lime juice and scatter over the coriander.
Notes
- Creamed coconut is sold as a firm block in UK supermarkets, not a tin. Grate it straight into the bowl, as she does.
- If you cannot find whole fenugreek, add the powder with the turmeric instead, as she suggests.
- The calories are for one serving of curry, without rice.
FAQs
What does dopiaza mean?
It means double onion, and here that is a whole 450g of onions for 4 people. They are cut into thick half-moons, so they keep their shape after 2 hours.
Browning them well for about 10 minutes matters most. That deep colour gives the sauce its sweet, rich taste before any spice goes in.
What is her beef curry with whole spices?
It is her older beef curry in the Complete Cookery Course, for 3. You need 700g cubed chuck steak, 2 large onions, 2 green chillies, 2 garlic cloves and a 4cm piece of root ginger.
The spices are 2 level teaspoons of coriander seeds, a teaspoon of cumin seeds and 2 cardamom pods, all crushed and dry-roasted for 5 minutes. Then a level tablespoon of turmeric, 150g yoghurt and a tablespoon of creamed coconut whisked into 55ml hot water make the sauce.
It simmers as low as it will go for 2 hours, then 15 minutes more without a lid. In the 1983 edition there is no coconut, and the spices are not roasted first.
Can I make her beef curry with mince?
Yes, her Frugal Food has a mince curry for 3, made with 450g minced beef. She says it must be good-quality mince from a supplier you trust.
Soften 350g sliced onions in 2 tablespoons of oil for about 10 minutes, then brown the mince, breaking it up with a wooden fork. Add a small chopped apple, 2 garlic cloves, a dessertspoon of Madras curry powder, and ½ teaspoon each of ground ginger and turmeric.
Pour in 150ml yoghurt and 150ml hot water mixed with a heaped teaspoon of tomato purée. Cover it and bake it at 150°C, fan 130°C, gas mark 2, for 2 hours, and serve it with rice and mango chutney.
Is there a beef curry for one?
Yes, her One is Fun has Beef Curry Cooked in Yoghurt, made with 225g cubed chuck steak. A small onion softens for 5 minutes before the beef goes in to brown.
Crush ¼ teaspoon each of cumin and coriander seeds with a cardamom pod, then add garlic, ginger, a teaspoon of turmeric and a little chilli. After a minute, stir in 3 tablespoons of yoghurt and 60ml water.
Cover it and simmer it very gently for 1½ hours, then add 10g grated creamed coconut for 10-15 minutes more. A skewer tells you when the beef is tender.
What chutney goes with her dopiaza?
Her own coriander chutney, from How to Cook Book One, is the one she suggests. The photo in her book also shows a dish of mango chutney beside the rice.
For the rice, she chooses spiced basmati. Her other beef curries come with pilau rice, Indian pickles and mango chutney.
Delia Smith’s four beef curries
All four are from her own books. The cooking times are our own sums of her steps, from the first spice to the last stir.
| Curry | Book | Cooking time |
|---|---|---|
| Beef Curry Dopiaza, serves 4 | How to Cook Book Two (1999) | about 2½ hours |
| Beef Curry with Whole Spices, serves 3 | Complete Cookery Course (1983, 1992) | about 2½ hours |
| Mince curry, serves 3 | Frugal Food (1976) | about 2¼ hours |
| Beef Curry Cooked in Yoghurt, serves 1 | One is Fun (1985) | about 1¾ hours |
The dopiaza is the richest of the four, with the most onion and coconut. The mince one is the cheapest, and the one for one is the quickest.
