Beef nawabi with rose petal raita
Nawabi is an Indian curry famous for its royal taste, made so by the use of ground cashews in the delicious gravy. Slow-braising the beef in the oven ensures tenderness and also further develops the flavour of the curry. Served with a simple and beautiful rose-flavoured raita, this is one very special curry.
Top Tip - If you don’t own a mortar and pestle, after toasting the spices and chillies you can blitz the paste ingredients together using a stick blender or similar. If it’s difficult to find fresh rose petals, these can be substituted with dried or use 1-2 tsp rose water instead.
hands-on time
20 minutes
2 hours 45 minutes
total time
4 as a main
serves
Ingredients
Nawabi paste
6 green cardamom pods
10 black peppercorns
4 dried red chillies (e.g. kashmiri)
4 cloves
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp fennel seeds
60g roasted cashews
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
1 tbsp garam masala
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Curry
3 tbsp coconut oil
12 fresh curry leaves
2 large brown onions, finely chopped
800g chuck or blade steak, fat trimmed and cut into 2-3cm chunks
1 tsp sea salt, plus extra to taste
½ tsp cracked black pepper
400ml can coconut cream
400g can chopped tomatoes
roasted cashews, roughly chopped, to serve
chopped coriander leaves, to serve
Rose petal raita
150g unsweetened natural yoghurt
12 fresh rose petals
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp cracked black pepper
⅛ tsp sea salt
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced (or 180°C conventional).
First make the nawabi paste. In a mortar and pestle, bash open the cardamom pods to release the seeds and discard the pods. Heat a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the cardamom seeds, peppercorns, dried chillies, cloves, poppy, coriander, cumin and fennel seeds. Toast for a minute or two, until fragrant and the seeds are starting to crackle. Remove the toasted dried chillies and set aside. Transfer the remaining toasted spices to a mortar and pestle, grind to a reasonably fine powder, then transfer to a bowl. In the mortar and pestle, bash together the toasted dried chillies, roasted cashews, garlic, ginger and fenugreek to a rough paste. Add the ground toasted spices, garam masala, turmeric, vinegar and 70ml water, mixing together to form a paste.
For the curry, heat the oil in a 24cm Dutch oven or flameproof casserole dish over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until nicely softened. Add the nawabi paste and cook for 3 minutes to brown the paste, tossing through the onions. Add the beef, salt and pepper and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, to lightly brown the meat. Remove from the heat and add the curry leaves, 300ml coconut cream (reserve the remaining 100ml to stir through the curry after cooking), chopped tomatoes and 150ml boiling water. Stir through to coat the meat. Cover with a lid and bake in the preheated oven for about 2 ½ hours, stirring at halfway, until the meat is tender and sauce is nicely thickened.
To make the rose petal raita, place all ingredients in a tall container and blitz with a stick blender until smooth.
To serve, stir the remaining 100ml coconut cream into the curry and adjust seasoning to taste with extra salt if needed. Spoon into bowls, topped with the rose petal raita, roasted cashews and chopped coriander. Serve with your favourite rice or flatbreads.