A one-pot meal beef dish recipe with homemade curry sauce, made of coconut milk, tamarind sauce, and garlic. This Tamarind Beef Curry is so delicious and fragrant. The sauce has a great balance of both sweet and sour flavors. It's absolutely better than take-out.
Tired of the same curry taste? Try this curry beef dish that is made without store-bought curry paste. This beef is flavored with homemade curry sauce that is made from tamarind paste, coconut milk, and other ingredients that you can find in your pantry.
Tamarind Beef Curry
A one-pot meal beef dish recipe with homemade curry sauce, made of coconut milk, tamarind sauce and garlic. The sauce is so fragrant and has a great balance of both sweet and sour flavors.
Fast and easy comfort meal. This Tamarind Beef Curry can be ready in about 30 minutes!
This Tamarind Beef Curry can be made in a big batch and maybe store in the fridge for up to 2 days. Enjoy this curry with jasmine rice, and feel free to add bell peppers or other vegetables as curry dishes are a risk-free entrée to play with.
What is Tamarind
Tamarind is a sour, dark fruit that is often used to make desserts, candy, salad dressing and is often used in savory dishes. When combined with sugar, tamarind gives the perfect balance of sweet and sour flavor.
Where to Purchase Tamarind
You can find fresh tamarind at any grocery market. For this recipe, I used a 100% tamarind paste that I purchase from my local Sprouts. It’s much quicker to make and I can save the remaining paste for later use in the fridge.
You can use the same paste to make delicious Thai recipes, such as Pad Thai or use it as salad dressing, like this Crunchy Asian Slaw with Cabbage, Mango, Carrot and Tamarind Sauce
The Best Type of Beef for Curry
For this fragrant beef curry, I used top sirloin steak because it’s so versatile, juicy and flavorful. It has very little fat and no bones, which make it one of the easiest meats to prepare for stir fry.
I thinly sliced the meat and season it well with black pepper before stir-frying it in a wok or pan.
How to Make Tamarind Sauce
Curry paste can be great but similar to a pasta sauce it can taste so much better to create it on your own. There’s the pride and creativity that goes into making your own, and it often pays off.
This homemade Tamarind sauce is very easy to make. I use brown sugar to add sweetness to this curry sauce/tamarind sauce to achieve a deeper, richer flavor of the dark caramel sauce.
One great thing about making a dish like this at home instead of ordering it while out is that you can play with the amount of sweetness.
For my husband, I can scale it way back, or simply adjust it to be sweeter for the kids. It’s difficult to do so at an Asian restaurant when you usually only have controls of a spice level.
How to Make Tamarind Beef Curry
Step 1. Brown the Beef
Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large wok or deep skillet. Stir fry the beef just until browned.
Step 2. Cook the Aromatic Vegetables and Spices
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Cook onion until soft, add garlic, lemongrass, star anise, and cinnamon stick. Stir fry for about 3 minutes or until fragrant.
Step 3. Cook the Tamarind Sauce
Add coconut cream and tamarind paste and cook for about 3-5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
Taste and adjust the seasoning with additional sugar or salt according to your liking.
Step 4. Cook the All Ingredients
CHECK OUT MORE ASIAN RECIPES:
- TWICE-COOKED PORK BELLY – (SZECHUAN HUI GUO ROU)
- CHICKEN IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE
- SPICY SICHUAN NOODLES
- SWEET AND SOUR FISH
- HUNAN BEEF WITH CUMIN
- INSTANT POT MONGOLIAN BEEF
- SINGAPORE NOODLES (XING ZHOU MI FEN)
- GENERAL TSO’S CHICKEN (SWEET AND SAVORY DEEP-FRIED CHICKEN)
- VEGETABLE STIR FRY WITH TOFU
- BEST PORK TENDERLOIN STIR FRY
- ASIAN GROUND BEEF STIR FRY
- THAI SALAD DRESSING
- MINCED PORK NOODLES WITH HOISIN SAUCE
- CHINESE EGGPLANT WITH MINCED PORK
- SHRIMP AND GREEN PEAS STIR FRY
- SESAME NOODLES (MA JIANG MIAN)
CHECK OUT MORE THAI RECIPES:
- GREEN PAPAYA SALAD
- SPICY THAI NOODLES – QUICK AND TASTY!
- THAI BASIL CHICKEN
- THAI SALAD DRESSING (THAI PEANUT SAUCE)
- THAI RED CURRY CHICKEN
- THAI LEMONGRASS SOUP
- EASY LARB RECIPE WITH CHICKEN
Hopefully, you'll enjoy this recipe and add it to your list of go-to Asian food recipes.
Tamarind Beef Curry
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds beef sirloin, (cut into thin strips)
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil or canola oil
- ½ yellow onion, (diced)
- 3 garlic cloves, (minced)
- 1 stalk fresh lemongrass, (finely chopped)
- 1 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 cup canned coconut cream
- 1 tablespoon tamarind paste
- 12 oz green beans, (trimmed and halved lengthways)
- 1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leave
- cooked jasmine rice
- optional ½ tablespoon light brown sugar
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over high heat. Stir fry the beef in batches until browned. Transfer to a plate. Set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium high heat. Cook onion until soft, add garlic, lemongrass, star anise, and cinnamon stick. Stir fry for about 3 minutes or until fragrant.
- Add coconut cream and tamarind paste and cook for about 3-5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Optional: Add ½ tablespoon light brown sugar to add sweetness (or use more according to your liking)
- Return the beef sirloin into the wok, add green beans and stir fry for about 3 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and serve immediately with jasmine rice.
Rachel
This is something that I hear about in books but I had no idea what it would even taste like. It actually sounds delicious.
Shannan P
I have not yet tried to make a curry, but this could very well be my first! Looks delicious!
Kristene Rodrigues
This was excellent! I will make it again, using hotter peppers. Used serrano peppers (2) this time, and it wasn't spicy enough for us. But the flavors are very balanced, especially with a squeeze of fresh lime at the end.
Rika
Hi Kristene,
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback! I am glad that you liked this recipe.
Best,
Rika