slowcooked beef and coconut curry (plus 4 more cheap meat recipes)
You’ll begin to notice, I reckon, that my food posts are going to take a certain tilt going forward. They’ve pretty much been leaning precariously that way for a while, right? My food journey is very much now geared away from fancy and will be aimed squarely at economical, sustainable, smart, ethical and nourishing. I’m going to focus on different techniques and approaches that achieve these aims.
Spicy Beef & Coconut Pumpkin Curry, recipe below
So far I’ve been all about not wasting food and using up scraps in inventive ways.
Today, we’re going to look at cheap meat eating.
As you know, I’m an ambassador for Love Food Hate Waste, and the beef and lamb industry’s Target 100 sustainability program (connecting farmers and consumers and getting us all on the same page). I’ll be writing more on this over the next few months.
For now, though, I’ve enlisted my mate Anthia from Ovvio Organics to share a few recipes from her ebook I Am Food, which is full of sustainable conscious food for good health. I’m jumping ahead to recipes (before exploring the theory) because I want you to get excited…and to experience her book. We met ages ago at our dear friend Marty’s Longrain restaurant in Sydney (if you know the restaurant and want to do your bit when eating out, know that they adhere to sustainable principles in the kitchen) and have reconnected via my meditation teacher and training guru. She’s on the same page as me when it comes to cooking philosophies. We chatted, thus:
* Use lesser-known or less fashionable cuts of meat or the whole animal. My favourites are beef cheeks and lamb shanks. Anthia loves lamb shanks. Many less expensive, bone-in cuts tend to boast extra nutrients, gelatinous compounds, quality fats and minerals. You’ve read my views on bone broth, right? I love what Anthia does with her duck (below). She cooks it up, then uses it three ways.
* Slow-cookers are wonderful. They effortlessly tenderise these lesser-known cuts of meat. They’re cheap to buy (about $50 at Kmart) and to run. You plonk in ingredients, press play and come back after work to a done meal.
* Mince is magic. Butchers use left over portions and extra fatty ‘bits & bobs’ to create mince, which means when you buy the stuff, you’re contributing your bit to minimising waste.
* Love your freezer. Hearty meat dishes can be cooked in bulk with leftovers eaten the next day (when they taste better) or frozen to eat down the track. Flavours will only intensify, plus a full freezer is a more economical one. Again, doing your bit.
But for now, let’s get cooking. These are some of Anthia’s favourites…and they’re wonderfully Autumnal, don’t you reckon?
Sweet Onion Meatballs
These are bite-sized healthy, protein goodness.
- 400g minced beef, chicken, lamb, pork or a mixture of beef and pork
- 65g butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 egg yolks (keep egg whites for an omelette)
- 1 ground tsp of OVViO Organic Tuscan or Provincial or Mexican or Indian Herb & Spice Blends
- natural salt
Preheat the oven first at 220 ̊C. Melt half the butter in a pan on low, add onion and stir until transparent. Season with dried herbs and spices and salt. Mix together the cooked onion, the mince and egg yolks in a bowl. Shape the mixture into 8 -12 balls. Melt the remaining butter in a pan and add olive oil on medium heat. Add the meatballs, turning frequently, until cooked and golden brown. Alternatively you may wish to bake your meatballs. Rub butter and oil in baking dish and place meatballs in dish and bake. Serve with finely chopped fresh parsley and lemon wedges or with dips. Or,
- Add to lunch boxes with vegetable sticks.
- Bake meatballs in homemade tomato sauce and grated parmesan cheese.
- Wrap in lettuce with a dip or dressing.
- Serve with fresh, raw or cooked salads or vegetables.
Cooking tips:
To make patties, flatten balls with your hands and cook on each side until golden brown. You can replace onions with shallots or leeks. Ghee works best as a fat for Indian flavoured meatballs. Grind spices just before use in a mortar and pestle to offer intensity in flavour.
Spicy Beef & Coconut Pumpkin Curry
- 1 kilo of beef stewing chuck steak cut into cubes
- 2 medium brown onions cut into cubes
- 3 tbsp of OVViO Organic Indian Herb & Spice Blend
- half a medium pumpkin, sliced thickly
- 2 stalks of celery, sliced
- 4 tbsp of coconut oil
- 1 cup of water
- 1 fresh young coconut with flesh and water scooped out and puréed
- natural salt
This dish works very well by first sautéing the Indian Spice Blend with onions and celery in the coconut oil, followed by the meat until brown but not cooked all the way through. Place pumpkin in slow cooker with natural salt and water, coconut purée and pour over brown meat with onions, celery and spices. Cover and cook on low for eight hours in your slow cooker. Serve with steamed vegetables, Minty cucumber yoghurt and freshly chopped coriander leaves.
Tip: If you don’t have a slow food cooker you can cook these meals in a cast iron pot like a Le Creuset or Chasseur. Cook in oven @ 120 degrees for 6-8 hours. This is best done on the weekend.
Roast Duck
Preheat the oven to 220 ̊C. Wash the duck with water and rub salt all over and in cavity. Lay in a roasting tin breast down. Turn oven temperature down to 120 ̊C and roast until golden brown on one side. Remove from oven and drain the duck fat in a glass jar (this is for keeps when roasting vegetables or pan frying meat or eggs).
Turn duck over and put back in oven to achieve golden brown skin on the other side. Make sure the duck is cooked by piercing with a large fork. If the fluid is clear the duck is cooked. If fluid is pink cook for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven. Cover with baking paper and allow to rest and cool. Pull off duck meat to serve with vegetables, and use the leftovers to make one of the recipes below.
1. Oriental Duck Soup
Keep the duck bones to make a delicious Oriental duck soup. Simmer in a pot of water with extra salt for two hours on low to medium heat. Also add a little splash of apple cider vinegar to help the bones breakdown and yield their mineral nutrients. Drain the liquid and discard bones. Put the liquid back in the pot and add one tsp of ground OVViO Organic Oriental Herb & Spice Blend. One cup of thinly sliced carrots, two sliced celery stalks and leaves, three finely sliced spring onions and two cups of finely chopped kale. Simmer until vegetables are cooked and serve. You can add some of the roast duck meat in each bowl.
2. Roast Duck, Cucumber, Orange & Pomegranate Salad
- 1 Lebanese cucumber, sliced
- 1 orange or grapefruit, segmented
- 1⁄2 cup of pomegranate fruit seeds
- 1 cup of fresh mint and coriander leaves
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- juice of 1 orange
- natural salt
- cracked pepper
Shred duck meat and skin and put in a bowl. Add cucumber, mint, spring onions and coriander leaves, orange segments and pomegranate fruit seeds.
3. Leftover Duck Meat Lettuce Wraps
- roast duck meat, well chopped
- 2 shallots, sliced
- 1 cucumber, diced
- grapefruit segments
- 1 bunch coriander, finely chopped
- 8 large crispy lettuce leaves
- lime or grapefruit juice
- extra chilli for heat
- natural salt
- cracked black pepper
Add all ingredients except for lettuce leaves in a bowl, mix and place in lettuce leaves. Wrap and serve. Shred duck meat and skin and put in a bowl. Add cucumber, mint, spring onions and coriander leaves, orange segments and pomegranate fruit seeds.
Orange Salad Dressing
Add natural salt, orange juice and cracked black pepper, and shake in a jar. Pour over salad in bowl, toss and serve on a platter.
This is the lovely Anthia. If you’re in Sydney you must stop by her shop and cafe in Paddington.
She makes beautiful teas (ask for sweet Lemon one) and it is there you can buy some of her magical vanilla powder which I use ad nauseum in my recipe books.
You can find the I Am Food recipe ebook here.
Got some cheap meat questions for either of us…post away…
yum yum yum!!! My grandfather and my uncles were butchers so we ate the whole animal in my house (tripe sandwiches anyone?). Love lamb Shanks but I reckon you get better flavor, and their much cheaper, from lamb necks. Great post x
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March 5th, 2013 at 2:24 pm
I haven’t played around with lamb neck yet…
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March 7th, 2013 at 11:56 am
Lamb necks are the best – super sweet & fabulous to casserole.
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March 7th, 2013 at 12:00 pm
And cheap (I forgot to write that). I also buy chicken drumsticks as they’re cheap too, I guess people prefer the breastmeat, costing me $3 or so for 4 or 5 depending on size. Cooking for one I can have roast chicken, minimal leftovers (so I’m not eating chicken for a week) and at $1.50 a serve (2 drummies, though sometimes I only get though 1 and 1 is for the next day) with veg from the garden or markets, they’re my Sunday night fave!
March 8th, 2013 at 11:39 am
Yes! One of my favourite recipes is slow-stewed lamb neck with tomato, onion and white wine. As a dish, it just never gets old. It was actually a recipe from a lovely BBC series called Economy Gastronomy.
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Getting back to coconut oil, sorry to those who are over this debate, but new information has come to my attention that I thought I’d share. The fairly new Smart DNA test developed here in Oz, will test for ‘gene appropriate fats’ that are suitable for your body. Apparently it’s just not true that everyone should be eating coconut fat and do better on monos. I know myself that I don’t process it well, I feel ill when I eat it and put on weight, despite all the claims being made about it. The test is expensive but worth it, I’ve ordered my kit and can’t wait for the results. (this is not an advertisment for Smart DNA, I recently heard about it and thought I should share it with others who also don’t tolerate coconut oil well).
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March 5th, 2013 at 2:26 pm
Hi Jess, I’ve never heard anything about gene appropriate fat testing…I agree, though, that everyone needs to listen to their own bodies.
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I love this!!
I can’t wait for winter to come round so I can be doing more slow cooking xx
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Hi, where can I buy OVViO Organic Indian Herb & Spice Blend? Thanks
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March 5th, 2013 at 3:41 pm
You can get it here – http://enlivenfitness.com//shop/ which is in glebe/ultimo
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March 5th, 2013 at 4:14 pm
At Ovvia in Paddington… but I think you can buy online, too.
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March 5th, 2013 at 4:36 pm
Hi Lauren – yes, Enliven are a fabulous stockist (with an excellent fitness studio to boot).
You can also pop by our store in Paddington, shop online (http://www.ovvioorganics.com.au/shop/) or check our ‘about OVViO’ section on the website to find a complete list of suppliers.
Enjoy! x
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March 15th, 2013 at 9:50 pm
Is there any substitute we can use? Like a herb or spice we can quickly grab at the supermarket instead of ordering it online? i don’t have the patience!
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My partner and I recently started eating paleo. I’m not one for diets and similar to IQS, the thing I like about it is that it’s sustainable long term. It’s a way of eating, rather than a short term solution to a problem.
Rather than using sauces in our cooking, we’re only using herbs and spices. And my god, does it make a difference. You can actually taste everything!
Thank you for sharing these tips and recipes, they couldn’t have come at a better time!
x
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Oh I LOVE Anthia!! She directed me to your iqs book last year, so the two of you combined changed my life in a way I would have never imagined!
Xx
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You can cook any cheaper pig bits (hocks, etc) in a slow cooker with split peas and onions, garlic etc to make pea and ham soup. It’s not strictly Paleo because of the peas, but it IS tasty and reminds me of childhood! You just need to pull out the hocks at the end and scrape the meat off the bone. Mmm.
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March 5th, 2013 at 4:14 pm
love pea n ham.
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March 7th, 2013 at 12:05 pm
another top (money scrimping) tip – sorry but I’m excitable today.
Check out your local deli for cheap ham hocks, In Canberra – (where nothing much is cheap ‘cept some of the talk on the hill) I’ve lucked in at times on a Sunday afternoon at the markets with the deli only asking $2 for a whole ham hock with some decent meat still on the bone, + $2.50 for a bag of blue boiler peas = a freezer full of gorgeous pea and ham soup for nix!
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If you were really serious about the environment, health and being compassionate; you wouldn’t be eating meat AT ALL. The inhumane treatment of animals is enough for me, however it’s a huge environmental issue and it’s not healthy.
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March 5th, 2013 at 2:15 pm
WE have to choose our food carefully – even veges! If we don’t grow our own or buy from small producers then we are re just increasing:
– demand for produce shipped from remote locations and .your own carbon footprint.
- demand for vegetables grown on large farms that employ large-scale use of synthetic fertilizers. Fertilizer run-off from large farms near rivers and coasts almost always ends up in oceans. The overabundance of nutrients found in fertilizer run-off can result in massive algal blooms that deplete dissolved oxygen and kill all other forms of life in large sections of ocean.
- the use of harmful pesticides applied to kill specific agricultural pests also can harm beneficial insects in the area. The problem can be compounded when pesticides are carried outside the targeted-use areas by wind currents or hydrological features. Pesticides can harm plants, animals and humans that inadvertently ingest them.
- the use of packaging -plastics produced from fossil fuels take many lifetimes to biodegrade. Growing your own vegetables avoids the need for packaging.
It’s not just meat it’s everything really.
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Oh gosh, that’s another whole debate!
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I just put the lid on the slow cooker with a double batch of this inside!
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March 5th, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Hope you like it Heather!
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March 14th, 2013 at 8:46 am
WE loved it and we are still loving it! I froze several meals from this batch and we have two more to go! The best thing about the recipe is that it is Whole30 compliant (on my second whole30 now). I added in some bone broth prepared earlier in the slow cooker and which I have a great supply of in the freezer. So delicious!
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What is your view on the grass fed meat Aldi and Harris Farm sell? Are they good quality and ethical?
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There is a great series and book by the founder of the Leon food chain in the UK Allegra McEvedy called Economy Gastronomy.. All about eliminating food waste and saving money whilst creating helthy and delicious food… Good for ideas http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/shows/economy-gastronomy/
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Thanks for the recipes Anthia – they look divine, particularly the duck ones! I’m in love with my slow-cooker at the moment – I currently use it 1-2x per week without fail. Last night it was a chook with bacon, mushrooms, thyme, leeks and white wine, last week a shoulder of lamb with potatoes, tomatoes and cumin. I buy ethical meat in bulk straight from the farmer (keeping our freezer full!), so I get all the unfashionable cuts too – they go straight into the slow-cooker!
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Hi Sarah
Love these recipes. I am changing my diet to a paleo diet but find myself eating lots of meat, eggs and cheese,raw dairy. I also like to follow dr Mercola and lately he has been talking about excess protein being as dangerous ( for growth of cancer cells) as sugar. The protein I would eat in a day is way way above his recommendations. Any thoughts?
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March 11th, 2013 at 5:37 pm
Lara, I’d recommend Nora Gedgaudas’ book ‘Primal Body Primal Mind.’ If you search Sarah’s blog you’ll find an interview with Nora. Nora recommends a plant based diet, a moderate amount of meat (also believes too much is unhealthy), and a generous amount of fat to stay full. If you type paleo into Sarah’s blog search you’ll find Sarah has written a few articles on the way she does ‘paleo’ which includes smaller portions of meat (compared to many eating paleo).
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Hi there,
I am a non-dairy eater, not by choice, and I love coconut everything! I have been drinking coconut milk since the day I got my test results. Because of reflux and personal taste I can’t eat spicey foods, is the Spicey beef, punmpkin & coconut curry spice? If so, what could i replace the spices with that are not spicey at all?
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Honestly, until I was much older I didn’t even know there was any other part of a lamb you could eat except for shanks (and of course the obligatory lamb roast
). My mum would braise them in a stew and spoon over mashed potatoes with greens. Grown up me now enjoys them cooked by my American (the audacity!) husband in a slow cooker – and he does a very nice job, considering he didn’t grow up with lamb.
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Great recipe for the slow cooker spicy beef and coconut pumpkin curry! I love Thai food and since going low carb found this such a delicious alternative to the sugary Thai sauces.
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I love these recipes – please keep them coming Sarah. So helpful when trying to prepare a dinner that everyone in family will tuck into (from 2 yr to fussy eating 39 yr old bloke!)
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Thanks so much for yet another insightful post Sarah! I have always loved the work you do (blog, appearances, books and tweets), but since moving to developing country in the South Pacific 3 months ago, I have really connected with your work on a completely different level. I admire your ability to convey life and lifestyle choices at such a raw, real level … a concept that I am enjoying exploring here each every day at so many different levels. I am looking forward to much more to come. And yes, my freezer is now full of meatballs… thankyou
x
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love the direction you’ve been going in…. after years of following your blog I finally got IQS and the cookbook!
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Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but instead of that, this is great blog. An excellent read. I will definitely be back. cheap louis vuitton bags http://cheap-louis-vuitton200.webs.com
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[...] a cookbook of sugar-free recipes. They’re both available here, or take a sneak preview at her slow-cooked beef and coconut curry here. Again, loads of inspiration on this [...]
Great sentiments! I’m off to try a variation of the beef and coconut recipe (modified to suit what’s in the pantry today). Just thought it worth mentioning that you can get a basic slow cooker even cheaper than $50 — my hubby bought me one from BigW just a few weeks ago for $19!! It’s great for seeing if you like using a slow cooker. It does say to hand wash the crock, but mine has survived the dishwasher several times already.
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