Senegalese Beef and Cabbage Curry

Senegalese Beef and Cabbage Curry is a classic Indian restaurant curry from Senegal, which features native, French inspired and Indian ingredients and cooking methods blended together. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Senegalese version of: Senegalese Beef and Cabbage Curry.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

20 minutes

Total Time:

40 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : CurrySpice RecipesBeef RecipesSenegal Recipes

This is a classic Senegalese Indian restaurant curry from Dakar that uses zebu beef and cabbage as the main ingredients. Carrot is often added too and limes are used for the acid component. So, the recipe mixes classic curry with Francophone flavours. Smokiness is added through the inclusion of pounded poivre de Senegal. Poivre de Senegal is raw grains of selim that’s smoked whilst still green yielding a sticky pulp and seeds. For this recipe, you need the pulp only, pounded to a paste. It lends a wonderful smokiness that’s a feature of many Senegalese dishes. Remember, poivre de Senegal is not the dried spice which is commonly available. If you simply can’t get it, take two grains of selim pods, remove any tough bark, discard the seeds and pound the pods to a powder. Just like the British Indian Restaurant (BIR) curry has been adapted to local ingredients and tastes, you see this phenomenon in other country too. So, this is a Senegalese Indian Restaurant curry.

Ingredients:

500g (1 lbs) green cabbage, cut into 1cm (1/2 in) strips
4 tbsp oil
1 onion, sliced thinly
2 tbsp West African curry powder (use the Nigerian curry powder I published previously)
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
1 tsp poivre de Senegal, pounded to a paste
2 carrots, cut into chunks
450g stewing beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 spring onions, finely chopped
½ bunch coriander, leaves only, chopped
1 hot chilli (Scotch bonnet or habanero, split lengthways)
Juice of 2 limes
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch) blended to a slurry with 2 tbsp water
Sea salt, to taste

Method:

Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and fry for 5 minutes, until soft and starting to colour. Scatter over the curry powder and turmeric. Stir fry for 2 minutes then add the garlic, garlic and ginger paste and the Senegal pepper. Stir to combine and cook for 1 minute.

Stir in the beef, fry until just coloured (about 4 minutes) then pour in 500ml (2 cups) water. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes (top up the water as needed). Add the carrots, cook for 5 minutes more then add the cabbage.

Return to a simmer, add a little more water if needed then nestle in the split chilli. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, until the beef is tender. Stir in the cornflour slurry, season to taste with salt then cook, uncovered for 2-3 minutes, or until the gravy has thickened to your liking. If you don’t want the curry too hot, remove and discard the chilli. But if you like it with a bit of a kick, remove the chilli, mash it with a fork and return to the curry, stirring to combine.

Stir in the coriander leaves and lime juice then serve accompanied by rice and/or flatbreads.