Skills you will learn in this recipe
Cooking & spicing a mince-based curry; making a nut butter; brown-cooking onions
Links to the last recipe
Working with Indian flavours; cooking with pulses
We cook this cashew mince & chickpea recipe very often, and it is a real family favourite – the sort of dish we gravitate towards when we don’t know what to make as we know suggesting it will raise a smile. But the story of how we came to make it is interesting.
Estella’s granddad, whom she called Taid, grew up in the Middle East, and often recreated dishes from his childhood at home. Later in the series we will share some of his recipes, like stuffed vegetables and lamb fasoulia – he was a very good cook, and also made great homemade pizzas! But there was one childhood dish he couldn’t quite re-create to his satisfaction – a spiced beef mince dish with chickpeas.
So when we came across this Indian cashew mince & chickpea dish in Julie Sahni’s excellent book Classic Indian Cookery we made it for Taid – and it hit the spot! He said it was just how he remembered it, even if the culture it stems from is different (proof that in cookery, some good ideas are universal!). We think what swung it might be the cashew nut butter, it lends the dish the velvety richness Taid was lacking in his attempts to make it.
This recipe is adapted slightly from the original, but the main ideas remain. We strongly suggest you check out the book – it is packed with clear & tasty Indian recipes we cook time and again.
We always serve this curry, as suggested, with a simple onion, tomato & green chilli salad – this both freshens the dish, and allows each person to select the heat level they like, by adding more or less of the chilli. It is also good served with our favourite raita – find the recipe for it here.
The cashew nut butter which is the curry’s velvety secret is very easy to make, but requires a little patience. You can replace it with shop-bought if you prefer, but homemade will be cheaper (and nicer!). Apart from that, the recipe is extremely simple to make, and subtly spiced, rich and delicious. We think it will become a family favourite of yours too!
You can use either lamb mince or beef mince in this recipe – or indeed plant-based. We always use beef, in deference to Taid’s original inspiration. And if you add more chickpeas, you can reduce the amount of mince – stretching the curry, and reducing the cost.
Preparation
For the mince dish, first peel & chop the onions into medium dice. See our onion Tip.
Chop the garlic – see our garlic Tip. We use 4 or 5 cloves, but add to your taste. Also peel and grate the ginger – again see our ginger Tip.
Nut butter
Now prepare the cashew nut butter. You don’t need much for this dish – about 3 to 4 tablespoons worth. A small pack of cashews, about 150g, will make this plus a little extra.
Nut butters are simple to make, but you need to be careful that you don’t ‘burn out’ the motor of your blender or processor. The key is to process in short bursts. A nut butter will also take a while to form – up to 10 minutes, though it can form quicker (normally about 5 to 8 minutes). Process for 10 to 30 seconds at a time, then scrape down the bowl after each blast. Be patient! The nut butter will go through a few stages, that you can see in the pictures below.
We use natural cashews, with no salt. You can roast the cashews first (or buy roasted, but do rinse the salt off and then dry the nuts) – roasting does intensify the flavour, plus makes the nuts more brittle and slightly easier to blend. To do this, roast them in a dry frying pan for a few minutes, being careful they don’t burn. But we find using the nuts raw works fine, and gives a nice fresh-tasting butter.
Place the cashews into the bowl of a food processor or blender. If you have a smaller bowl on your processor, use that. Blend in blasts, about 10 to 30s each time. But trust your blender; don’t let it strain. A higher number of shorter blasts is time-consuming, but better. The nuts will chop at first, then start to form a dry sludgy paste – as this happens, scrape down the bowl between each blast. See the pictures below for how it changes.
In the pictures below, you can see the ‘sludge’ forming. Today this took about 5 minutes. This is good, but keep going. You need to blend until you can really see the oil coming out of the nuts and it looks slightly wet, as below.
When you reach the ‘wet sludge’ stage, add a little oil. Any neutral oil is fine, but don’t use olive. Today we used vegetable oil. Two generous teaspoons should be enough for 150g of cashews. Blend again for a few more blasts, until you reach a glossy nut butter stage. You are done!
Jake sticks his nose in
This nut butter is time-consuming, but worth it! You will have a little extra – use it just as you would peanut butter, it is delicious, and a little goes a long way! Unfortunately, you probably can’t make it easily without a blender or processor – a hand blender in a bowl may work, but will take even longer, and you’ll have to be even more careful not to burn it out. A pestle & mortar will get you a paste, with effort – which will also work, but not yield as rich and glossy a butter.
Your mise en place is ready, and you can start to cook the curry.
Cashew Mince & Chickpea Curry
The first stage is to brown-cook the onions. We’ve fried onions in about half the recipes so far in this course (!) but this technique is slightly different. We normally cook the onions gently until either just softened (for bite) or well softened and translucent (for sweetness) – but here we want them brown, which means a longer, and slightly hotter, cook.
Add a little vegetable oil to a large frying pan or wok, and set over a medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the onions and stir. Don’t turn the heat down as we normally would, keep it medium, and stir frequently – keep the onions moving so they don’t burn or stick.
You’ll need to cook the onions until they are golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes, and keep stirring. Go beyond the translucent stage (10 to 15 mins), and the oil will start to separate from the onions – this means they are ready to brown, and you’ll have to take extra care they don’t burn.
Before this stage, take a few minutes to measure out your spices. We spice this dish quite lightly – it is not a hot curry, and you can regulate the heat with the garnish. Use a spice blend you like, but we use 3 teaspoons ground coriander; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1 teaspoon turmeric and 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
You can see the onions browning in the pictures below. You can take them even further – Julie Sahni’s original recipe calls for them to be so brown they are dark & shrivelled. But we prefer them still with some juiciness, and also we find too many onions burn at the edges if we take them that far. When they reach the golden stage, add the ginger and garlic, and cook, stirring, for one or two more minutes.
Next add the the spice mix (but not the garam masala yet), and stir well to combine – just until the spice smell rises.
Now turn the heat up slightly, and add the mince. Break it up as you add, then stir to break it up further with your spoon. Keep the mince moving with the spoon so it browns evenly.
The mince is ready when it is completely brown, with no pink or red left – as in the middle picture below. At this point, season with a little salt.
Add the tinned tomatoes. You can use chopped, but if they are whole, as ours were today, break them up a little with your spoon. Use the ‘tomato can trick’ we’ve shown in previous recipes like Bolognese and Risotto – rinse out the cans with a little boiling water, and add the juicy water to the pan.
Stir well, then add the nut butter. For this curry (generously) for four people, you want to use 3 to 4 tablespoons. This will make the dish lovely and rich, but don’t be tempted to use more – the nut butter will overpower the flavour, and your curry may become too oily. Stir well.
Now add the chickpeas, along with their liquid. Add a little more boiling water if you think it needs it – you want a loose sauce at this stage, which will then reduce down. We added about 100ml, in addition to about 50ml we added from the tomato can – 150ml in total.
Bring to the boil, then turn the heat right down and cover with a lid. Cook for about 40 to 45 minutes, until the sauce is rich and reduced. Stir frequently – this curry can stick, plus you also want to let some steam out as it cooks to help it reduce.
Garnish & Raita
While the curry is simmering, make the garnish (and raita if serving – see our best raita recipe here).
For the garnish, slice a red onion – see our onion Tip. Also chop 3 or 4 tomatoes, removing the stem bed and some of the white central core. Keep the pieces bite-sized. Add to a serving bowl with the onion.
Then chop some green chillies. You can chop them quite fine as in our Tip, but we prefer to keep them a little chunky. We like to use really hot green chillies – today we used 5 rocket chillies. We keep the pieces quite large so anyone who doesn’t want the garnish to be too hot can avoid them. Cut into little rounds, as below, knocking out some of the seeds.
Add the chillies to the bowl, leaving most of the seeds behind. Stir well. Your garnish is done!
You can serve the chilli with rice, as we did today, or with Indian bread. If serving rice, get this on to cook – for white basmati, do this about 20 to 30 minutes before you are ready to serve. See our rice Tip for the full method, timings and handy hints, courtesy of our rice expert Philip!
Serving
After about 40 to 45 minutes, the curry should be done – it is ready when it is reduced and glossy. You can prepare it ahead and remove from the heat, reheating it just before serving, or serve immediately. When ready to serve, add some garam masala (about 2 teaspoons), stir and then taste. Adjust any seasoning. Your curry should taste lightly spiced, rich and with a good balance between acidity from the tomatoes and sweetness from the onions and nut butter. This really is a tasty dish, velvety smooth, and very moreish!
Serve the curry on the rice, allowing everyone to add their own garnish and raita.
The garnish goes on the top – tell your guests to avoid the chillies if they don’t want it spicy! Serve the raita on the side.
Enjoy! We hope you love this cashew mince & chickpea curry as much as us and Taid!
Velvety Cashew Mince & Chickpea Curry (for Taid)
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Chop the onions into medium dice. See our onion Tip. Also chop the garlic. See our garlic Tip. Peel and grate the ginger. See our ginger Tip.
- Now make the cashew nut butter. Place the nuts into the bowl of a food processor or blender (you can roast them first if you wish). Pulse repeatedly for 10 to 30 seconds at a time, taking care not the burn the motor on your blender. More shorter blasts, with pauses in between, are best. As the nuts begin to form a 'sludge', scrape down the bowl between blasts. Keep going until the nuts form a slightly wet, shiny paste. This will likely take 5 minutes or more. Add about 2 generous teaspoons of vegetable oil (or other neutral oil) and pulse again a few times until you have a smooth nut butter.
- To make the curry, first brown-fry the onions. Set some vegetable oil in a large frying pan or wok over a medium heat and add the onions. Do not turn the heat down. Stir the onions frequently to prevent them burning. While the onions are cooking, measure out your spice mix. When you see the oil begin to separate from the onions, it means they are near to browning – they can easily burn at this stage, so keep stirring until they are a nice golden brown colour (this can take 20 to 25 minutes), then add the garlic and ginger. Stir for another minute or two, then add the spice mix (but not the garam masala yet) and stir again to combine.
- Add the mince to the pan, breaking it up a little with your spoon. Stir frequently so the meat browns evenly – it is ready when there is no visible red or pink colour, and the meat is a uniform brown. Season with a little salt.
- Now add the tinned tomatoes – break them up if they are whole. Rinse out the cans with a little boiling water, and add this to the pan. Stir.
- Add about 3 to 4 tablespoons of the cashew nut butter to the curry – you should have a little left over. Do not be tempted to add more – it will overpower the flavour and make the sauce oily. 3 to 4 tablespoons is enough to make the sauce velvety and rich. Stir well to distribute.
- Add the chick peas, along with their liquid. You can also add a little more boiled water – about 150ml in total, together with the liquid you added from the tomato tins. Bring the sauce to the boil, then turn the heat down, and cover with a lid. Simmer for about 40 to 45 minutes until the sauce is rich, reduced and glossy. Stir frequently to prevent sticking.
- While the sauce is cooking, prepare the garnish and raita (if serving). See our best raita recipe here. Also cook the rice, if serving. See our rice Tip for details and timing – allow about 20 to 30 minutes before serving for basmati.
- For the garnish, slice the red onion, and place in a serving bowl. See our onion Tip. De-core and chop the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces, and add to the bowl. Chop the chillies into rounds, and tap our some of the seeds. Add the chopped chilli to the bowl, leaving behind any seeds, and stir to combine.
- Your curry can be prepared ahead, and removed from the heat when the cooking time is up, to be reheated just before serving. Or you can serve immediately. Before serving, add the garam masala, stir in, then taste the sauce. Adjust any seasoning.
- Serve the curry on the rice, or alongside some Indian bread. Top with the garnish – you can adjust the heat of the dish by adding more or less of the chillies. Serve the raita on the side.
- Enjoy!