Coconut beef casserole

This is another success story from the slow cooker. Tender beef in a rich, sweetly spiced sauce. To brown or not to brown – that is the question often asked with regard to meat and the slow cooker.

Traditionally, I always browned meat before I made a casserole, but recently I have skipped the browning step, mainly out of curiosity, to compare the end result, which varied greatly. Some dishes really lacked lustre, depth of flavour and colour when the meat hadn’t been browned off and others worked out remarkably well, this being one of the recipes that works without browning.

To make the spice paste, blitz the ingredients together in a food processor. I have found that a NutriBullet works brilliantly also.

Add the spice paste, beef and all the other ingredients to the slow cooker. Don’t worry if it looks a little dry, the meat will release juice during cooking.

I cooked this on the high setting for four hours; it will work equally well on low for seven or eight hours. The beef was deliciously moist and the sauce just divine. It is the perfect winter dinner served with brown rice, toasted coconut shavings and lots of fresh coriander.