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!
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!
Kate says
Just wanted to leave a quick note to let you know that I love this recipe! (I’m actually making it again right now). Additionally, I have a 21 month old who also loves this… bonus points for getting my toddler to eat! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
My Heart Beets says
Kate, I’m so happy to hear that you and your little one like this recipe so much! Thanks for leaving a review 🙂
Rennie says
OK this was sensational! I made it for dinner tonight and my husband’s reaction after his first mouthful was, “YUM, this is incredible!” The only tiny modification I made was add a scant 1/4 cup of frozen peas at the very end, just for some color, and tossed them through for 30 seconds. Thank you for this marvelous recipe. I will definitely be making it again.
My Heart Beets says
Rennie, that’s awesome! I’m so happy to hear that 🙂 Thanks for letting me know how this turned out!
Michelle says
We made this last night for dinner with ground turkey, added a teaspoon of curry and chopped tumeric. also included a purple yam that was lingering in our veggie drawer. Didn’t have the indian chili so used plain chili powder. This was delicious! and kid friendly, will be adding this to our regular rotation. Thank you for sharing this recipe !
Kristina Derrick says
Ok. You should have made a note about cooking the potato first. I figured the tomato juices would be enough to steam them through. My mistake. Now i’m sitting here waiting an extra 20 minutes for the potatoes to steam.
My Heart Beets says
Hi Kristina, the first step says to cook the potatoes?
Kristina says
1st step says fry the potatoes.
Lindsay says
Just made this – it’s totally going to be a new staple in this house!
My Heart Beets says
Lindsay, I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Lindsay says
I just tried it with lamb as I’m out of beef and it was amazing! Thanks for such an awesome recipe 🙂
My Heart Beets says
Lindsay, I’m so happy that you liked it! I love ground lamb when making Indian recipes! I usually use beef though as it’s easier to get. So glad you made it with lamb!
Alex Brooke says
Thanks for sharing!! I’ve added this to my list of go to gluten free meals for the week. Really tasty and easy to make! 🙂
My Heart Beets says
Awesome, happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for ya!
Becca says
Have you ever done this in your Instant Pot? I’m wondering how long the sweet potatoes would need and if any liquid would be necessary in the bottom. I love my IP and it would be fun to make this in there! 🙂
My Heart Beets says
Hi Becca! I haven’t but I’m sure you can make this in your Instant Pot! I’d probably cook the beef on saute mode and then just do manual pressure for 3-5 minutes, depending on how small you cut the sweet potatoes. Let me know how it turns out for you!
Xenia says
This is one of my favorites 🙂 YUMMMMM making it this weekend again – lol
My Heart Beets says
one of my favs too! glad you like it 🙂
Tiffani says
A favorite at our house! I sometimes make with ground lamb and it is just as good 🙂
My Heart Beets says
happy to hear that!! 🙂
PatMan says
Again I doubted the call for 3 TABLEspoons of coriander powder, but my doubt was misplaced, I could still taste the cloves, great mix! I’m learning a lot about spices and flavorings by following the recipes here.
Super tasty, good comfort food for when it is rainy and gloomy outside – I added a large pinch of kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) to the sweet potatoes as they were finishing, it added an extra dimension…
I ground some fennel seed in my mortar and pestle to get fennel powder, it was hard to find. BTW, I use 3 parts smoked paprika and 1 part cayenne as a 1:1 sub for kashmiri chili powder, in case that helps anyone!
My Heart Beets says
Thanks, PatMan! 🙂 Happy to hear that you’re learning about spices and enjoying the recipes here!
hillarybug says
I’ve made this twice now and really like it! I love that it includes such a huge pile of spices. Yum!
Ham bone says
I made this tonight. It was good, tasted like my chili but a little better. I almost wanted to add beans to it haha.
My Heart Beets says
Glad you liked it 🙂
Kevin says
Ashley,
My son was recently diagnosed with a strong allergy to Gluten and Dairy and my wife has been following suite, so we have been trying to find some recipes to satiate his appetite but are still delicious. I came across your Ground Beef and Sweet Potato Curry. What a hit!!!!! Keep ’em coming and thanks for sharing your recipes
Kevin
My Heart Beets says
Kevin, I’m sorry about your son’s food allergies but I’m so glad to hear that you liked my beef and sweet potato curry! I hope you’ll let me know if you try any other recipes 🙂
april says
I saw this dish on an episode of Anthony Bourdains show when he was visiting India. Looked so delicious I googled sweet potato and beef and came upon your site. I made this dish using your recipe this evening. This is going to be a regular dish on my meal rotation. LOVE!! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
My Heart Beets says
April, I’m so glad you loved the recipe!! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Faith says
So… this is ridiculously filling!!! And delicious. Since I tend to have flare-ups when I eat tomatoes, I replaced them with zucchini and it worked wonderfully (just took a while for the water to evaporate due to the high water content of zucchini, so I think I’d add less water next time).
My Heart Beets says
Faith, that’s great! I’m so glad you were able to make the recipe work for you! 🙂
Yuliya says
I just made this, it was delicious!!! I added a little yellow curry powder and garam masala because I didn’t have some of the other spices on hand. Amazing! I’m stuffed because I had seconds and thirds 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
My Heart Beets says
That’s awesome! Glad you liked the recipe 🙂
Tami Binder says
Couple of questions:
1. Did you cook your sweet potatoes ahead of time?
2. Do you think I could swap out sweet potatoes for butternut squash?
Thank you.
My Heart Beets says
Hi Tami! I’m sorry for the late reply – I cooked the sweet potatoes right before making the meal. And, I bet it would taste just as good with butternut squash 🙂
Marcus says
Looks amazing and seeing as I just pulled a bag of grass fed mince (ground) beef from the freezer 30 mins before seeing this it looks like my dinner idea is decided. 🙂
My Heart Beets says
Marcus, that’s awesome! I hope you love it! 🙂
Deb Schumacher says
This cookbook includes this recipe http://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Free-Indian-Authentic-Recipes-Delicious-ebook/dp/B00G0LF1NY/
Not sure you gave permission,…
My Heart Beets says
Hi Deb, no I didn’t give them permission. It’s unfortunate that these guys are trying to make a profit off of recipes that I’ve created – thank you for letting me know.