Beef and Sweet Potato Curry

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Beef and Sweet Potato Curry is much healthier than a takeaway. It’s family-friendly, tasty, and a fantastic way to use up leftover beef and veg. Oh, and it’s nowhere near as complicated as you might think!

For such a long time, I was frightened of making a curry from scratch. There are always so many ingredients, and it can be a little overwhelming.

I stuck to jars, probably because I was convinced I’d do it wrong. 

I’m going to be honest here. I do still use the occasional jar. 

I also use Bolognese jars sometimes. Terrible, I know. I’m a massive fan of cooking from scratch.

It’s healthier, cheaper; it means that you get to make your food, your way and that you always know exactly what you are eating. 

But, frankly, there’s not always time for all the chopping, stirring and marinading!

At the moment, life is hectic. Jim’s working less, so I’m working more. But Jim’s also not always working at the most helpful times, so I’m school running, driving kids to lessons and classes, cleaning, etc. 

I mean, with the staggered school starts and my not being able to go into lessons with them, I’m reading a lot. 

Reading in the car isn’t the most comfortable experience, and I’m not looking forward to doing it when it’s freezing cold. But it’s quite lovely to pause. 

Does however mean that once I’m home, opening a jar is pretty fab!

But, if you’ve got a little more time, making your own Beef and Sweet Potato Curry is ace!

It’s a reasonably healthy beef curry recipe, certainly healthier than a takeaway.

But it’s also much easier than you might think. And, the good news is, once you start making your own curries, you get a little collection of all of the spices that you need. 

Most curries use similar combinations, so once you start, you can branch out and create new flavours or follow new curry recipes more easily. 

How to Cook Beef Curry

This is a pretty easy Healthy Beef Curry to make from scratch. 

I like to marinate my beef overnight so that it’s nice and tender and filled with flavour. But, you can just give in an hour if you are in a rush. 

Then, you just fry your beef, throw in your other ingredients, and in the case of this beef curry recipe you just bang it in the oven for a few hours.

Slow cooking like this means that your meat is wonderfully tender, and the beef curry sauce has tons of flavour. 

While I cook my beef curry in the oven for a few hours, I do check it every 30 minutes or so, and if it is starting to dry out, I add a cup of water. 

What to Cook Easy Beef Curry in?

I cook this Beef and Sweet Potato Curry in an ovenproof le Creuset style dish -af link- (but not, because I’m not made of money!) 

Any large ovenproof dish will do as long as it’s got a lid. 

You could fry the beef in a large frying pan, but I like to do it all in one pan where possible, which means these dishes perfect as they are great on the hob and in the oven. 

How do You Make a Healthy Beef Curry?

This is a reasonably healthy beef curry, as they go. 

I use full-fat Greek Yoghurt for my marinade. Just because I find low-fat, or fat-free, separates as you fry the beef, giving you quite a gritty curry sauce. It still tastes great, just doesn’t look as appetising. 

If you want to make a healthier beef curry with a low-fat curry sauce, by all means, switch to low-fat yoghurt. 

Cook it very slowly, at a lower temperature to avoid splitting as much as possible.

I use a fry-light style spray instead of oil, and adding sweet potato adds plenty of vitamin C, minerals, and yumminess!

Adding Vegetables to Beef Curry

I think sweet potato works so well in curries. 

It’s such a nice flavour anyway, and the sweetness complements the spices deliciously. 

Soft sweet potato and tender beef also feel really nice together. 

You can, however, add more vegetables if you want your beef and sweet potato curry recipe to have more nutritional value. 

Butternut squash would work really well with this curry. You could also dice peppers and courgettes, add mushrooms, and cauliflower. 

You could even tip in a few portions of whatever frozen veg you’ve got in the freezer. They’ll cook in the oven as your beef and sweet potato curry simmers away. 

Do You Need to Precook the Sweet Potatoes in Curry?

When you make a Sweet Potato Curry, you don’t need to worry about cooking the sweet potatoes first. 

The only time you’d need to cook them or parboil them before adding would be if you were cooking it very quickly. 

This Healthy Beef Curry Recipe cooks v.slowly, so the sweet potatoes have plenty of time to soften and cook in the sauce. 

I just peel them, chop them into around 1-2cm squares and throw them in before I put the lid on ready to bake in the oven. 

Can You Make Beef and Sweet Potato Curry with Leftovers?

This recipe for Sweet Potato Curry is the perfect way to use up leftover beef and veg. 

Chop up your cooled leftover beef, add the marinade and leave in the fridge overnight. Then, follow this recipe as normal, just without the need to brown the beef. 

As a side note, Sweet Potato and Chicken Curry is also absolutely gorgeous and would be a great midweek meal.

How Do you Thicken Up a Curry?

Because this recipe for Healthy Beef Curry slow cooks in the oven, thickening it up isn’t really a problem. 

Generally, if you want to thicken a curry sauce, simmer it on the hob for a little longer, add some tomato puree, or mix 1 tablespoon cornflower with 1 tablespoon of water and stir it through the sauce. 

Can You Freeze Beef and Sweet Potato Curry?

Yes, you can freeze this one-pot Sweet Potato and Beef Curry. 

Leave it to cool before placing in a sealed tub in the freezer. 

Thaw it slowly in the fridge and cook on the hob until piping hot before serving. Adding a little extra water if you need to. 

The sweet potatoes might go a little mushy, and the texture won’t be precisely the same, but it will still taste fab. 

What do You Serve with Beef Curry?

I’d love to serve curry with everything! Rice, naan, poppadoms, onion bhajis, samosas, chutney. I love the sides as much as the main course.

You do you, but I have an excellent naan bread recipe here. 

Beef and Sweet Potato Curry

Author NameAuthor: Donna

Beef and Sweet Potato Curry is much healthier than a takeaway. It’s family-friendly, tasty, and a fantastic way to use up leftover beef and veg.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs

Marinading Time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 4 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course Dinner

Cuisine British, Indian

Servings 4

Calories 361 kcal

Ingredients

  

For the Marinade:

• 150 ml Full-Fat Greek yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 500 g Diced beef
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• 1 teaspoon Coriander

FOR THE CURRY:

• Calorie-controlled cooking spray
• 1 Onion – Diced
• 1 Red Chilli – Finely chopped (or 1tsp easy chilli)
• 3 garlic cloves – Crushed
• 1- inch Root Ginger (Peeled and grated – or 1 teaspoon easy ginger paste)
• 1 tablespoon Coriander
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Cardamom
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• 2 teaspoons Garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoon Tomato puree
• 1 Medium Sweet Potato (Peeled and diced into 1-2cm chunks)
• 500 ml Beef stock (Made with 1 cube)
• 400 g Tinned chopped tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon Lemon juice

Instructions

 

For the Marinade:

• Place the diced beef into a large bowl or tub and add the yoghurt, salt, cumin, coriander, and turmeric.
• Stir it all together well, cover and leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.

For the Curry:

• Place a large ovenproof dish over a low heat on the hob and add 5-10 sprays of cooking spray (or 1 tablespooon oil).
• Add the marinaded beef and fry gently for around 5 minutes until the outsides are browned. Drain off any excess water.
• Add the onions, ginger, garlic, cardamom seeds and chilli and stir well.
• Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often until the onions are starting to soften.
• Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, garam masala, and pepper and stir thoroughly.
• Cook for a further 5 minutes, while preheating the oven to 150 degrees.
• Next, stir in the sweet potato.
• Add the tomato puree, chopped tomatoes, stock, and lemon juice stir and bring to the boil.
• Place the lid on the dish and put in the oven.
• Leave to cook for 2-3 hours.
• Serve with rice for a healthy family dinner.

Notes

• You can make this recipe with fat-free or low-fat yoghurt. But it may curdle or split when cooking. Avoid this as much as possible by browning your beef slowly, over a very low heat, and adding the liquid gradually.
• Check every 30 minutes or so and if it seems to be too dry, add some water and stir in before returning to the oven.
• I cook mine for anything between 2 and 4 hours, all work fine, you just get softer meat the longer you leave it.
• If using leftover beef, chop and marinade cooled beef and leave in the fridge overnight and follow the recipe the same, just warming the beef and marinade for 2 minutes instead of browning for 5.
• I cheat and use 1 teaspooon of easy red chilli and 1tsp easy ginger paste, instead of chopping a fresh chilli and peeling and grating root ginger.

Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.

Keyword beef, fakeaways, leftover roast beef recipes, sweet potatoes

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