This ground beef and sweet potato curry is savory and well-spiced, though not necessarily spicy. I think the sweet potatoes do a wonderful job counteracting the heat so if you like it hot, feel free to add more cayenne to this dish.
Also, you should know that while I call this a curry, it’s actually more of a dry dish.
It’s still a little unusual for me to write an Indian recipe calling for ground beef. Until about ten years ago, I didn’t even know Indian beef recipes existed. My parents grew up in north India, where you don’t ever see people eating beef. During our family trips to India, I had never seen anyone eat beef or talk about eating beef. That’s because cows are considered sacred to Hindus, and Hinduism is the predominant religion in India. I grew up in a Sikh family, and so while it was acceptable for us to eat beef, my mom didn’t cook beef until I started dating Roby (my parents loved him from the start and would even grill steak for him – pretty sure they wanted to make sure he’d marry me, ha).
Roby is Catholic, and his family is from Kerala, where beef is a staple. I love that he and his family have introduced me to a whole new way of cooking and combining spices. If you like Indian food and ground beef, then you’ll love this dish. If you don’t like beef, you can easily substitute this with a different type of ground meat: ground lamb, goat, chicken, or turkey will work just fine too 🙂
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil divided
- 1 large or 2 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
- 1 onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1- inch ginger minced
- 3 tablespoons coriander powder
- 2 teaspoons homemade meat masala click to see the recipe!
- 2 teaspoons Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black peppercorns
- 2 large ripe tomatoes chopped
- 1 pound ground beef
- Cilantro garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Melt 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in sauté pan, then add chopped sweet potatoes and fry for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside for now.
- Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil to the pan and stir-fry the onion for 3-4 minutes, or until soft.
- Add the garlic, ginger and spices, stir-fry for a minute, then add the tomatoes. Mix well then add the ground beef.
- Cook until the tomatoes dissolve into the curry and the beef is cooked through.
- Raise the heat to high and add the sweet potatoes back to the pan.
- Stir fry until the beef mixture is mostly dry, about 3-5 minutes
- Garnish with cilantro if desired. Serve.
just for fun, here’s a picture that I took of this dish in 2013:
This is one of the many delicious recipes in my eBook, South Asian Persuasion: 100+ Paleo Indian recipes. If you like this then you’ll love my eBook!
Sandra Levy says
Delicious and easy. I added spinach that I needed to use and it did no harm. I worried that 4 cloves of garlic might be too much but that was not the case.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Thanks, Sandra. Glad to hear that 🙂
Jon Openshaw says
A few notes: I subbed in a can of diced tomatoes because I had none to dice myself. I used 1 1/2 lbs of beef instead of 1. I didn’t have the chilis so I used half a teaspoon of cayenne. I also added 1 1/2 diced beets with the sweet potatoes and served with rice and grapes! Delicious. Thanks for this amazing recipe.
Jeriannw says
This was soo good! I made the meat masala (yum) and substituted for the Kashmiri chilli with 1 1/2 tsp paprika and 1/2 tsp cayenne. Served with garlic naan.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Mary says
This recipe is awesome. The spices are amazing. We ate it with roti. I’m so glad to have found this recipe and I thank you for sharing it.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how much you like this recipe 🙂
Helena says
If I don’t have time to make my own meat masala, is there a store brand you recommend?
Judy says
Love this! The perfect combination of flavors. Thank you Ashley for opening up a whole new array of cooking for me. I’ve always loved the aromas and flavors of Indian cuisine but never thought I could do it myself. 💖
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Judy, I’m so glad you loved this recipe! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂 Also, so happy to hear that you’re cooking Indian food!