This salted beef curry –Kari Bef Sale-cooked with coconut milk and aubergine, is a creamy fragrant curry that will excite your taste buds. The coconut milk adds the smoothness and sweetness to an otherwise salty curry and the aubergine, with its fleshy texture, compliments the dryness of the meat. A perfect match!
This dish is also known in Seychelles as kari fokitouz or false kitouz curry. Kitouz is the local name for salted turtle meat and the dried salted beef curry, when cooked with aubergine and coconut milk, is reminiscent to salted turtle meat, which is now illegal to consume. Click here to learn more about the relationship between salted beef and kitouz.
In the absence of a refrigerator one way to preserve meat on the islands was to salt it and it was traditionally kept in the potis for harder times or letan dir. The potis is an earthenware pot used to store and preserve salted meat and it was was a very handy equipment to have then because it kept the salted meat away from pests, rodents and moisture.
A little reminiscing!
The flavour of this delicious dish takes me all the way back to my childhood spent on Cousin, Aride and Silhouette Islands. On occasions, especially during the South East Monsoon, when the sea was too rough for the small pirogue to venture out at sea, there would be a shortage of fresh fish and mum would dig into the potis and pull out a few pieces of salted beef brought over from Praslin Island and cook this curry, the recipe of which I am sharing with you here.
Accessing the Salted Beef
Salted beef is not very commonly found these days and you may find it hard to access it. If this is the case why not make your own at home using the dry curing process, as explained here .
Cooking with freshly made coconut milk- a little bit of chemistry
The main ingredient in this salted beef curry is coconut milk, preferably freshly made. The most important thing to bear in mind when cooking with coconut milk is that you must ensure that the milk does not curdle; and this is achieved by avoiding cooking on high heat and by frequently stirring the milk during the cooking process.
Roughly, raw coconut milk consists of coconut oil, protein and water. In its natural state and at room temperature, the protein acts as an emulsifier, keeping the coconut milk looking homogenous. Ordinarily, the protein molecules in the coconut are relatively compact but, as they’re heated, they begin to unwind and take up more space. The unwound or “denatured” proteins are more likely to collide with each other and to form molecular bonds. If enough of them cluster together, they’ll form lumps and curdle your sauce.
Stirring the milk frequently breaks up the bonds between the protein molecules as they form, helping minimize the risk of curdling.
It is worth mentioning here though, that most tinned coconut milk will not curdle as easily as freshly made one because it contains stabilisers and thickeners.
Cooking the curry
Soak the Salted Beef
Place the the salted dried beef in a stainless bowl and add water. Soak for two to three hours. The soaking serves two purposes. Firstly, it helps to remove some of the salt from the meat and secondly, it assists in rehydrating the meat. The aim is never to remove all the salt from the meat completely; there should always be a salt taste remaining. After the meat has been soaked, remove from the water, place in a colander and give in a quick rinse to remove salt from its surface, and allow to drain.
Boil and Shred the Salted Beef
In a medium pot, bring about 2 litres of water to the boil and gently boil the meat for no more than 60 minutes or more depending on the cuts of meat used.
Remove the meat from cooking liquor and allow it to cool. Reserve some of the cooking liquor. You may need it to thin out the curry if it becomes too thick because the aubergine has a tendency to thicken the curry.
Taste the meat for level of saltiness. If it is still very salty, wash once more and allow to drain. Once the meat is cooled, manually shred it about 4 cm long and keep. This process is also called ‘pulling’.
Finishing the Salted Beef Curry
Heat oil in a medium size pot and sweat onion, then add garlic and ginger. Add curry powder, mix well and let fry for about 2 minutes. Then add the coconut milk, mix well and add then chopped aubergine.
Once it starts to boil, turn heat to simmer and add shredded beef and the chilli, stir and let simmer for about 45 minutes.
You may decide to add some of the cooking liquor to thin the curry. Be careful here because the cooking liquor may make your curry too salty. In that case adjust the consistency of your curry with some water.
This is a mild curry. Should you wish to make your curry hotter add an extra goat chilli.
This creamy salted beef curry is ideally served with plain boiled rice and green pawpaw chutney and accompanied with a vegetable asar.
Here the Recipe for Salted Beef Curry- Kari Bef Sale
This salted beef curry –Kari Bef Sale-cooked with coconut milk and aubergine, is a creamy fragrant curry that will excite your taste buds. The coconut milk adds the smoothness and sweetness to an otherwise salty curry and the aubergine, with its fleshy texture, compliments the dryness of the meat. A perfect match!
- 500 g salted dried beef
- 1 medium aubergine- cubed
- 2 tins coconut milk or fresh milk from two coconuts
- 3 cloves of garlic – crushed
- ½ white onion, roughly chopped
- 1 goat chilli- sliced in two
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ginger
- Salt and pepper to taste
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Soak the salted dried beef in cold water for about two to three hours. This will dilute the salt as well as rehydrate the meat.
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Wash the meat in cold running water to remove salt on its surface
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Place the meat in a pot and boil on medium heat for about 1 hour or more depending on the cuts of meat used. A softer cut will require less boiling and vice versa.
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Remove the meat from cooking liquor and allow to cool. Reserve some cooking liquour. Taste the meat for level of saltiness. If it is still very salty, wash once more and allow to drain.
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Allow the meat to cool and manually shred it about 4 cm long and keep.This process is also called ‘pulling’.
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Heat oil in a medium size pot and sweat onion, then add garlic and ginger
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Add curry powder, mix well and let fry for about 2 minutes
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Add coconut milk, mix well and add cubed aubergine.
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Once it starts to boil, turn heat to simmer.
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Add shredded beef and the chilli, stir and let simmer for about 45 minutes. If the curry is too thick, adjust the consistency by adding some of the reserved cooking liquor.
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Serve with plain boiled rice and green pawpaw chutney and vegetable pickle-asar.
You may decide to remove the seeds from the chilli if you prefer a mild curry or add extra chilli if you want a spicy kick. The Seychellois traditionally do not remove seeds form their chilli.
When using the cooking liquor to adjust the consistency of the curry, you have to be careful because the cooking liquor may make your curry too salty. In that case adjust the consistency of your curry with some water.
Did you make this recipe?
I hope you will enjoy cooking this dish. Please let me know how it turned out for you. If you have a different version of the recipe or have related questions, please leave your comments below.
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