The step up from curry powder — and worth every minute

There's a point in a proper beef curry where the kitchen starts smelling like the good Indian place — onions gone deep gold, cardamom and cinnamon crackling away in the oil. This is that curry. Blade steak wants a long, gentle simmer, and it repays you by turning silky where leaner cuts go stringy. It's a step up from the curry-powder version you grew up with, but every step is simple, and the pot mostly looks after itself while the rice cooks.

2 hrs 50 mins 4 servings Prep 20 minsCook 2 hrs 30 minsMain CourseIndian

Ingredients

  • 430g Your Farmer grass-fed blade steak, cut into 3cm pieces
  • 3 tbsp ghee or neutral oil
  • 4 cardamom pods, 1 cinnamon stick and 4 whole cloves
  • 2 brown onions, finely sliced
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 5cm piece ginger, finely grated
  • 2 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • 400g can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala and a handful of coriander leaves, to finish
  • Steamed basmati rice, to serve

Instructions

Heat the ghee in a heavy pot over medium heat and drop in the cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. Let them sizzle for 30 seconds until fragrant — this perfumes the oil, and the oil carries it through the whole curry.

3 tbsp ghee4 cardamom pods1 cinnamon stick4 cloves

Add the onions and cook, stirring often, for 15 minutes until deep golden brown — not blond, brown. This is the body and sweetness of the sauce, so don't rush it.

2 onions

Stir in the garlic and ginger for a minute, then the ground spices for 30 seconds, keeping everything moving so nothing catches.

4 cloves garlic5cm ginger

Add the tomatoes and salt and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until the mixture thickens and the oil starts to separate at the edges — the sign the masala is ready.

400g crushed tomatoes1 tsp salt

Add the blade pieces and turn to coat, then pour in 250ml water, bring to the gentlest simmer, and cook covered on the lowest heat for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the beef is silky and the sauce is rich. A lazy bubble — never a boil.

430g blade steak

Stir through the garam masala, scatter with coriander leaves, and serve over steamed basmati rice.

1/2 tsp garam masalacoriander leavesbasmati rice

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Your Farmer CSA grass-fed beef share — vacuum-sealed steaks, roasts, mince and sausages, paddock-to-plate NSW & ACT delivery
CSA Grass Fed Beef Share
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Why Blade Goes Silky Where Other Cuts Go Stringy

A long-simmered curry is brutal on the wrong cut. Lean steak tightens and turns to threads; blade does the opposite. It's shoulder muscle, threaded with connective tissue and a distinct seam through each Your Farmer® blade steak, and two hours of barely-simmering sauce converts all of that into gelatine — the beef ends up soft-edged and silky, and the sauce picks up body you can't fake. The one rule is heat: keep the pot at a lazy bubble, the surface barely moving. A hard boil squeezes the meat dry before the tissue has time to melt, which is where most tough curries come from — if yours is bubbling hard, the flame is too high, simple as that. Blade arrives as a ~430g pack in Pack B and Pack D beef shares — cube it straight from the pack, seam and all.

Swaps and Variations

If the blade's already spoken for, diced beef steps in with identical timing, and lamb forequarter chops make a beautiful bone-in version — add 20 minutes and lift the bones out at the end. Stir 100ml coconut milk through in the last ten minutes for a rounder, milder pot, and adjust the chilli powder either way; the recipe as written is a family-friendly medium. If this style of slow, spice-first cooking is your kind of Saturday, our beef massaman curry is the Thai cousin worth meeting next.

Storage and Leftovers

Curry is famously better tomorrow — the spices settle in and the sauce thickens overnight, which makes this a smart cook-Sunday-eat-Monday dinner. Keep it airtight in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, or freeze for up to 3 months in family-sized portions; reheat gently on the stove with a splash of water rather than blasting it. Leftover idea: shred the beef through the sauce, pile it into a toasted wrap with yoghurt and cucumber, and call it the best lunch of the week.

The whole point of our grass-fed beef and lamb boxes is cuts like this — the ones that reward a bit of patience with the best dinner of the week.

Frequently asked questions

Do I eat the whole spices?

No — the cardamom pods, cinnamon stick and cloves are there to flavour the oil and sauce. Fish them out before serving if you can find them, or just warn the table to eat around them, as they do in India.

Can I make this in the slow cooker?

Yes. Do steps one to four in a frying pan — the golden onions and split masala are non-negotiable — then transfer to the cooker with the beef and just 125ml water and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours.

What does 'the oil separates' actually look like?

After 8 to 10 minutes the tomato mixture darkens, thickens, and a rim of orange-tinted oil appears at the edges of the pot. That's the water cooked out and the spices properly fried — the flavour base is done.

How hot is this curry?

As written, a gentle medium — most kids will handle it. Halve the chilli powder for a mild pot, or double it and add a slit green chilli with the tomatoes if your table likes heat.

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