beef / lamb cuts and precooking

[JerryM]

the lamb tikka ended up rubbish and i've abandoned the interest. the meat was too tuff and the tikka taste too strong.

i tried the kiwi on pork souvlaki and adopted for future general use.

[Micky Tikka]

I have Ranjit Rai's Tandoor Book
And just looked at the Lamb tikka recipes and all have raw papaya paste as a tenderiser
sometimes mixed with lemon but mostly with yogurt
Marination time 8 hours

[Peripatetic Phil]

the lamb tikka ended up rubbish and i've abandoned the interest. the meat was too tuff and the tikka taste too strong.

Not tried making lamb tikka myself, Jerry, but lamb as an ingredient of Indian food is not something I would want to abandon.  I had two chicken birianies and one lamb birany in Abu Dhabi last week (well, one was actually on a flight out of Abu Dhabi), and the lamb biryani knocked the chicken biryanies into a cocked hat.

** Phil.

[JerryM]

michael.t/Phil,

the papaya is something i'd not come across but sounds good. the yogurt would sit well with what i've seen.

very much agree unlikely to abandon but feel i need to focus on mains for a while as these have more gain. the lamb (tikka) needs too much work to get right.

[goncalo]

I bought half-kg of diced beef and I was thinking to use it in a curry. Does anyone have any advice on how to pre-cook this in terms of cooking timings and any other tips you may find useful

n.b: I've never had a curry with beef before.

[goncalo]

For anyone interested, I used the same recipe I  use to precook chicken, but with beef instead and cooked for about 30mins (didn't time it) and added a knorr rich beef stock.

[Peripatetic Phil]

added a knorr rich beef stock.

Stock pot or cube, Goncalo ?
** Phil.

[goncalo]

added a knorr rich beef stock.

Stock pot or cube, Goncalo ?
** Phil.

stock pot.

N.B: I didn't try it yet, it was too late at night and will probably only try it tomorrow