Daging Jintan

This is a very simple beef recipe to make on a rainy day when you crave something spicy and your body is longing to be warmed from the inside. The heat arising from the amalgamation of cumin, fennel, black pepper, coriander and tumeric.

My brothers and I used to make this all the time when we were living away from home and sharing a house. All the girls who used to come back to our house for dins used to ask my brother Jack if he learnt to cook this in Morrocco. I bought him a tajine for his 23rd birthday so he can make this dish more authentic for his girlfriends.

We call it Daging Jintan because that is really what it is - beef cooked with two types of jintan - cumin and fennel, with some coriander thrown in. The spices are warmed in a pan then crushed gently and then added to the beef. They are used more to complement or enhance the taste of the beef rather than to overwhelm. You can omit the chilli if you like, it will not affect it too much. You know you are onto a winner when the beef is tender and moist in the outside yet slightly crunchy on the outside.

It's delicious served with couscous or rice, with some roasted vegetable on the side or a salad of your choice. Drizzle some of the oil left in the pan on the couscous or rice for extra oomph!

The recipe:

Ingredients:

500g of beef

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 chilli - sliced

1 onion - sliced

1 garlic - crushed

1TBSP coriander (whole)

1 tsp cumin (whole)

1 tsp fennel

2 TBSP vegetable oil

fleur de sel

Method

1. Marinate the beef with tumeric and black pepper and set aside for 10 minutes.

2. Slice the onion and chilli and crush the garlic.

3. Warm up a pan and throw in all the whole spices and fry without oil until the kitchen is fragrant. Crush the spices gently or you can blitz it in the blender for a second. The spices shouldn't be too fine.

4. Warm up some oil and fry the onion until it caramelised and translucent.

5. Add the beef in and stir it while all the liquid evaporated. Add the crushed spices and garlic.

6. Stir in the chilli and serve.