Kenyan Beef Curry

1. Bring the 4 cups of water to a boil in a Dutch oven or soup pot. Add the beef, garlic, and ginger, and stir well. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. If you get any foamy scum on the top, not to worry, simply spoon it away or stir it back in.
   20 minutes
2. Remove from the heat, and drain, but reserve the excess water for later.
3. Return the pot or Dutch oven to medium heat with the 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes.
   5–7 minutes
4. Add the tomatoes to the onions, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are falling apart, 3 to 5 minutes.
   3–5 minutes
5. Add the drained beef to the tomato and onion mixture, and stir well. Continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
   5 minutes
6. Add the paprika, pepper, curry powder, tomato paste, and salt to taste, and stir well.
7. Add back the excess water that was used for cooking the beef, along with enough extra water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, or until the meat is tender and the sauce is thickened. Add additional water if your beef curry begins to dry and stick, or if would like your curry to have more of a soupy consistency.
   1 hour
8. When the beef curry is ready, remove from the heat, give it a taste, and adjust the seasonings as desired. Garnish with fresh chilis and cilantro.

Cooking notes

When scaling protein-led dishes, weigh the meat rather than counting pieces, and remember that the pan size limits how much you can sear at once.

For volume-to-weight conversions of any ingredient — flour, sugar, butter, salts — use the ingredient converter. To translate the recipe's oven temperature between °C, °F and gas mark, see the temperature converter.

When you scale this recipe up or down, remember that cooking time does not scale linearly. A doubled cake takes longer, but not twice as long; a doubled soup takes roughly twice as long. The cooking-time guide gives sensible starting estimates by dish geometry.