Beef Madras

Madras is a very popular curry in Britain and several theories exist as to its true origins. Some people believe it was invented by Indian chefs during the time of the British Raj, and from there it spread to other parts of India and eventually to Britain. Other people believe it to be a British Indian restaurant (BIR) invention that was created in the Bangladeshi owned curry houses of Great Britain during the 1960s or 1970s.

Beef Madras

There is no traditional recipe for Madras curry in India. It's more of a British thing than anything else. In her book 50 Great Curries of India, Camellia Panjabi writes, "The standard Madras curry in restaurants in the UK is not to be found anywhere in Madras!" In his Curry Club Indian Restaurant Cookbook, Pat Chapman writes, "You will not find a traditional recipe for Madras curry. It is another restaurateurs' invention. But the people of South India do eat hot curries; some original chef must have christened his hot curry 'Madras' and the name just stuck."

Whatever the case may be, the curry is named after the city of Madras (now Chennai) in Southern India, the capital city of the state of Tamil Nadu, which is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. Also known as the gateway to South India and once a stronghold of the British Raj, Chennai likely has many regional meat, vegetable, and seafood curries that could all fall under the generic label of 'Madras curry' if one were to be so inclined. I guess it's always a possibility that during the time of the Raj the British may have acquired a taste for what was an already well established South Indian curry, but one that the locals knew by a different name.

The word 'curry' isn't used in India, and there are no direct translations of it in any of the 22 languages spoken there. The word was coined by the British during the time of the Raj and is possibly the anglicised version of the Tamil word 'kari', which means sauce. Another possible source of origin for the word 'curry' could come from the Hindi words 'karahi', 'karai', 'kadai' and 'kadhai', all of which are words used for a traditional wok-like cooking pot used throughout India.

If madras curry was the invention of British curry houses then it's likely that the name was used to give a heat rating to a typical British Indian restaurant style curry sauce. After all, Madras is known as a hot curry in the UK, and curries from South India tend to be hotter than those from the north of the country. The curries served at British Indian restaurants are all made using the same base gravy and none of them are traditional Indian curries. They were created for convenience by busy restaurant owners, whilst at the same time still appealing to the British palate.

Cooking an Indian curry in the traditional way can take an hour or more depending on the main ingredient, whereas a restaurant curry can be cooked in as little as 15 minutes. The base gravy, also known as 'garabi', used for cooking restaurant style curries mainly consists of onion, ginger and garlic paste, vegetable oil, spices, tinned tomato, water and salt. Each establishment has its own slight variation of this and some may also add other ingredients, such as carrot, white cabbage, red or green bell pepper, coconut block, potato, fresh coriander and sugar. I've heard that some chefs even add Coca Cola to the mix!

These ingredients are placed into a large pot and then simmered over a low heat until everything breaks down. The mixture is then blended into a thin soup-like consistency. When cooking individual portions of curry the base gravy is usually the third ingredient added to the pan after frying ginger and garlic paste, mix powder (the chef's own curry powder) and watered down tomato puree. Pre-cooked meats or vegetables are then added, along with more base gravy. The curry is then cooked over a medium-high heat until the water content is reduced and the oil separates and floats to the top.

Many restaurateurs use the names of traditional Indian curries to differentiate between the heat levels for what is essentially the same curry sauce. For example, rogan josh is a type of korma from Kashmir, and vindaloo comes from Goa and has its origins in the Portuguese dish carne de vinha d'alhos. Both of these are unique dishes from two very different regions of India, but from a curry house perspective the only real difference between the two is the amount of chilli powder they contain. Madras curry is ranked between these two in terms of heat, although as we've already established is not a traditional Indian curry per se.

Depending on the generosity of the establishment, a rogan josh may contain some ground almonds or a drizzle of cream, Madras may contain a slice of fresh tomato, and a vindaloo may contain a splash or two of vinegar and a few pieces of cooked potato. Apart from that, it's all about the chilli powder.

The British Raj has been mentioned several times on this page, but my intention is not to glorify it. On the contrary, although British rule of India may have been seen as the 'jewel in the crown' and a golden era for the British Empire, or a fairytale-like existence for many of the British people born and raised in India or British people who lived and worked in India at the time, the reality was very different for the Indian people. The British Raj was a very cruel, unfair and oppressive regime that saw much bloodshed, violence, torture and famine, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 80 million Indians.

Here is my recipe for beef Madras and it has been a favourite curry of mine for many years. It's a reasonably hot curry with a rich, clingy sauce and can be served with side salad and plain boiled rice, chips or naan bread. Whenever I'm in any doubt this is always one of my go-to curries of choice.

Ingredients:

• 4 teaspoons freshly grated coconut or desiccated coconut (see notes)
• 3 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 3 teaspoons coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (see notes)
• 1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 8 green cardamoms, cracked
• 8 cloves
• 1-inch piece cassia bark
• 500g finely diced white onion
• 3–4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1-1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt or salt to taste
• 1kg beef brisket, cut into 1cm pieces
• 2–8 fresh finger chillies (red or green), sliced into thin rings
• 12 tablespoons (200g) blended chopped tinned tomato
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• 350ml hot water
• 2 teaspoons kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
• 2 whole dried red chillies (optional)
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 8–10 fresh curry leaves (optional)

Method:

1. Place the coconut, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and black peppercorns into an electric coffee grinder and grind until fine. Add the chilli powder, paprika, turmeric and garam masala and pulse a few more times until everything is well mixed. Set aside.


2. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat and add the green cardamoms, cloves and cassia bark. Allow the spices to sizzle for about 30 seconds until they become fragrant.


3. Add the onion, mix well and fry 8–10 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking, until soft and translucent.


4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the garlic, ginger and salt. Mix well and continue to fry for a further 40–50 minutes or until the mixture turns golden brown.


5. Once the onion mixture has turned golden brown add the ground spices and mix well to ensure they are incorporated into the oil. Next, add the beef and the fresh finger chillies. Mix well and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking. If at any point the spices start sticking to the bottom of the pot before the meat has started releasing its juices then just add a tablespoon of hot water and scrape them off with your spoon. Do not allow the spices to burn or it will ruin the flavour of the curry.


6. Add the blended chopped tinned tomato, tomato puree, hot water, kasoori methi and whole dried red chillies (if using). Mix well, cover and then place into a preheated oven at 180C/350F/Gas 4 and cook for 2 hours.


7. After 2 hours, increase the heat to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and cook for a further 45 minutes.


8. Add the freshly squeezed lime juice and fresh curry leaves (if using), mix well and then return the pot back to the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes.

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Notes:

• The temperatures listed in this recipe are for standard ovens and not fan assisted or convection ovens. Typically, when cooking with a fan assisted oven one would reduce the temperature by 20C/50F, but given how ovens do vary slightly I'll leave it up to you to decide. After all, you know your oven much better than I do.


• The recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds to be ground when making the spice mixture. I normally grind whole spices as and when I need them, but if all you have available is fenugreek powder then you can just use 1 rounded teaspoon of fenugreek powder instead.


• The best chillies to use in this curry are Capsicum annuum or Capsicum frutescens varieties.


• You can give this curry an added chilli flavour by stirring in one or two thinly sliced fresh chillies (red or green) at the end of the cooking process.


• I purchase fresh coconuts from the supermarket every year and cut the unpeeled flesh into chunks and store it in the freezer. When double-bagged, fresh coconut can be stored in the freezer for many months. You can peel off the brown skin using a potato peeler whilst the coconut is still frozen. It's also much easier to grate the flesh of the coconut whilst it is still frozen. However, it thaws very quickly, so once removed from the freezer it needs to be peeled and grated straight away. If you don't have access to fresh coconuts then just use desiccated coconut instead.


• Always use the best quality beef that you can afford. Curries made with poor quality beef will always have an inferior flavour.