Saturday, January 25, 2014

Paleo Ground Beef Curry inspired by Betty Crocker

You never know where you'll find a good recipe.  I found this recipe for Ground Beef Curry on Betty Crocker's website.  The only un-paleo thing in it was the rice which was easily substituted with cauliflower rice.  Omitting the rice also cut the cooking time significantly.  Paleo score!    


I've made this a few times and have tweaked the recipe a bit to give the dish a fuller flavor.  Here are the ingredients for the recipe as I make it now.  

1 lb Ground Beef
1/4 cup Onion, chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced (I used my garlic press.)
1 Tablespoon Ginger, finely chopped (optional)
2 14.5 oz cans Diced Tomatoes
1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
2 teaspoons Cumin
1 teaspoon Curry Powder
1 teaspoon Garam Masala
1 teaspoon Salt

Once you make the adjustments to the ingredient amounts and add curry powder to your ingredient list, I followed the recipe instructions as written.  

I cooked the beef, onion and ginger in my 12" skillet over medium- high heat until the meat was fully browned.  After making this a few times, I really think the ginger is optional.  It tastes great with or without.  When I used ginger, I thought it tasted better with a little less chopped ginger rather than the grated that the original recipe called for.  Out of all these ingredients, the one that I might not have in my refrigerator is fresh ginger, so I was glad to know it tastes great either way.  Do not substitute dried ginger, it is not the same.  

Once the meat was browned, I added the dry spices.


I mixed the spices in before adding the tomato paste and diced tomatoes to the pan.    


After mixing in the tomato products, I reduced the heat to medium, set a timer for 10 minutes and I worked on a batch of Cauliflower Rice.  I feel super productive when I can take a picture of two full skillets on my stove top.  


Here is my dinner plate.  




Accessibility & Cost of Ingredients:  You should be able to find everything you need for this dish at your "big box" grocery store.  I had all of the spices needed in my pantry already.  If you're just starting to cook, it won't be long before you have to buy a spice every time you make something.  I promise.

Preparation & Cooking Time:  It took me 20 minutes from start to finish to prepare this curry the first time I made it. Weeknight dinner winner!

Clean Up:  Everything I used for this recipe went into the dishwasher except my skillet.

The Paleo Review:  Thumbs Way Up!  Do you have 20 minutes?  You too can have a full flavored meal on the table.  For as easy as this was to make it was super good (with my ingredient tweaks).  I let my coworker Martha give it a try and she really liked it.  She's not used to curries made with ground beef and she liked the change.  I'm planning on making a few batches of this to freeze.