Red curry of beef with bamboo shoots and lime leaves

This curry of slow-cooked, tender beef started off as a Neil Perry recipe and has a wonderfully deep, warm flavour from the spices in its base paste (cinnamon and star anise alongside the usual Thai suspects like lemongrass, galangal, garlic and shrimp paste). We fry this curry paste until aromatic, stir through diced beef shin and coconut milk, then braise for hours  till it's meltingly soft before finishing the curry with bamboo shoots, fish sauce, ground peanuts and plenty of Thai basil.

 

Beef, coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, brown sugar, fish sauce, bamboo shoots, long red chillies, peanuts, Thai basil, black peppercorns, cumin, fresh and ground coriander, star anise, cinnamon, dried chillies, garlic, red onion, lemongrass, galangal, lime zest, shrimp paste, paprika.

Serve with steamed jasmine or basmati rice and some stir-fried greens with oyster sauce on the side or a salad.