Penang Beef And Coconut Curry With Peppercorns

We love curry and it does not matter what part of the world it comes from.  This is a Thai curry and it is not hot at all in fact in this dish the heat comes from the pepper not chilli although you can always add chilli on top like we do it you like a bit more heat.
You can use any cheap cut of beef for this dish and because it is cooked for a long time it will be amazingly tender.  It is important that you do not shake the coconut cream as you want to separate the cream from the milk.

Penang Beef And Coconut Curry With Peppercorns

1 x 400 ml Tin of Coconut Cream
500 g Diced Beef Shin/Blade/Chuck or other stewing cut
2 Tbs Red Curry Paste
2 Tbs Palm Sugar or raw sugar
1 Tbs Fish Sauce
1 x 55 g Tin of Green Peppercorns in Brine, drained and rinsed
8 Kafir Lime Leaves
4 Tbs Roasted Salted Peanuts, chopped
1/2 Cup Basil Leaves
1 Long Red Chilli (Optional)

Open the cocnut cream and spoon out the thick cream from the top and set aside in a bowl.  Pour the remaining coconut milk into a large saucepan and add your diced beef and a little water to cover if required.  Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 hours or until the beef is tender.
Allow the beef to then cool in the liquid.  

When the beef is cooked and cooled heat the remaining coconut cream in a wok over a medium heat until the oil starts to separate.  Add the curry paste and fry gently for 5 minutes the add the sugar fish sauce, half the peanuts, the kaffir lime leaves and beef.  Then add enough of the beef cooking liquid to make a thick sauce.
Simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes stirring every so often and then add the peppercorns, basil and finely sliced chilli.  As soon as the basil is wilted remove from the heat and serve over fluffy rice and garnish with the remaining peanuts.

This is a really easy curry to make and the pepper is a great change to the normal chilli heat that curries often have.