This Instant Pot Braised Curry Beef Is. Life. I haven’t been more excited about a recipe in a long time.
The One Dish I Always Ordered
Growing up, we would make regular trips into New York City for family gatherings––weddings, birthday parties, holidays, and dim sum brunches. It was always a food-centric affair, with meals at Chinese restaurants in either Chinatown or Queens.
Not to be outdone by the gluttony of the day, however, we would inevitably stop at NY Noodletown on Bowery or JJ Noodle on Henry St. to pick up styrofoam containers bursting with takeout to take back home to Jersey.
Our regular orders included Thousand Year Old Egg Congee, Beef with Tofu, and Cantonese roast meats like roasted pork belly and char siu pork. But whatever we ordered, the ONE thing we ALWAYS got was the recipe I’m making today––braised curry beef over rice.
A “Rough” Cut of Meat!
Traditionally, this braised curry beef (咖喱牛腩) was made with a cut of meat unfamiliar to most Westerners. It’s called “rough flank” or “outside flank” in English and pronounced “ngau lam” in the Cantonese dialect.
Not to be confused with flank steak, outside flank is a very tough cut of meat that must be braised until tender. The cut is about an inch thick, with a thin layer of silver skin on top and lots of tendony, chewy, crunchy bits that are made soft from long braises. It’s used in many braised Chinese beef dishes, and the resulting texture is prized among Chinese diners.
Now while that may not sound totally appetizing to some Western ears, I’m here to tell you that braised beef rough flank is one of my absolute favorite things. When braised, the tendons in the beef become deliciously gelatinous and melt-in-your mouth, and the meat falls apart like the most tender brisket or pot roast.
A Disappearing Recipe
Unfortunately, traditional braised curry beef made with rough flank or outside flank is becoming more and more scarce in today’s Chinatowns. I ordered it at NY Noodletown very recently, and what I got was thinly sliced beef stir-fried in a thin curry sauce, rather than the rich, tender chunks of beef I was looking for.
So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and craft a recipe for this braised curry beef using my new favorite kitchen toy––the Instant Pot.
While it normally takes hours to braise this cut of meat on the stove to achieve the tenderness you’re looking for, the Instant Pot can do the same work in under an hour, which is honestly incredible. You can start cooking, and an hour later be enjoying the most tender meat and richly flavored sauce––all poured over piles of steamed rice.
My mom has a recipe for a Hong Kong style beef curry on the blog already, but I decided to create a version closer to what we used to have in Chinatown by omitting the potatoes and carrots, and adding crunchy stir-fried onions right at the end.
NOTE: If you can’t find rough flank or would rather not use it (not everyone is a fan of beef tendon, I get it), you can substitute beef chuck (regular stew meat) to make this curry beef. Just cut the amount of stock in the recipe to just ⅔ cup, and reduce the instant pot cooking time to 20 minutes, as chuck cooks much faster than rough flank.
ALSO: We have the largest size instant pot (8 qt.), and this curry beef recipe filled it about 2/3 of the way up. If you have a smaller instant pot, simply cut the recipe in half.
Instant Pot Curry Beef: Recipe Instructions
First, blanch the beef to get rid of any impurities. Add the chunks of beef to a wok full of cold water, and bring to a boil.
You’ll start to see the meat cook. Boil for 1 minute.
Soon after, you’ll see foam appearing at the top of the water. These are the impurities you’re trying to get rid of.
Boiling these impurities out of the beef with this quick blanching process will give you a more pure flavor in the final curry, and a clean sauce.
Drain immediately, rinse, and set aside.
Heat ¼ cup of oil in the Instant Pot on the sauté setting. Add the garlic, shallots, and bay leaves to infuse the oil. Cook for a few minutes. Then add the curry powder and turmeric powder. Stir until well-combined. If need be, add a little bit more oil so the curry powder doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Take care not to burn the spices!
After a minute, add in the beef, beef or chicken broth or water (reduce the amount of liquid here to ⅔ cup if using beef chuck instead of outside flank), sugar, salt, and tomato paste. Seal the Instant Pot, and turn on the meat stew setting for 45 minutes (reduce cooking time to 30 minutes if using beef chuck).
Meanwhile, sauté the onions in 1 tablespoon oil in your wok for 1-2 minutes. They should still be a bit crunchy. Set aside.
Release pressure completely from the Instant Pot using natural release.
When safe, open the lid of the Instant Pot, and turn on the sauté setting. Stir in cornstarch slurry, and allow the curry beef sauce to thicken for a couple minutes.
If the curry beef isn’t thick enough for your liking, make and add more cornstarch slurry accordingly.
After the sauce has thickened, stir in the sautéed onions.
Taste for seasoning and add salt to taste.
Serve your braised curry beef over rice.
Instant Pot Braised Curry Beef
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 pounds beef outside flank/rough flank (牛腩, can also substitute beef brisket or chuck, cut into large 2-inch cubes)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil (plus 1 tablespoon, divided)
- 5 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 5 shallots (finely chopped)
- 3 bay leaves
- ⅓ cup curry powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 cups beef broth (chicken broth or water)
- 4 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt (plus more to taste)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 large onions (cut into wedges)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch (dissolved in 1 tablespoon water)
Instructions
- First, blanch the beef to get rid of any impurities. Add the chunks of beef to a wok full of cold water, and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, drain, rinse, and set aside.
- Heat ¼ cup of oil in the Instant Pot on the sauté setting. Add the garlic, shallots, and bay leaves to infuse the oil. Cook for a few minutes. Then add the curry powder and turmeric. Stir until well-combined. If need be, add a little bit more oil so the curry powder doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Take care not to burn the spices!
- After a minute, add in the beef, broth or water (reduce the amount of liquid here to ⅔ cup if using beef chuck instead of outside flank), sugar, salt, and tomato paste. Seal the Instant Pot, and turn on the meat stew setting for 45 minutes (reduce cooking time to 30 minutes if using beef chuck).
- Meanwhile, sauté the onions in 1 tablespoon oil in your wok for 1-2 minutes. They should still be a bit crunchy. Set aside. Release pressure completely from the Instant Pot using natural release.
- When safe, open the lid of the Instant Pot, and turn on the sauté setting. Stir in cornstarch slurry, and allow the sauce to thicken for a couple minutes. If the curry isn’t thick enough for your liking, make and add more cornstarch slurry accordingly. After the sauce has thickened, stir in the sautéed onions. Taste for seasoning and add salt to taste. Serve over rice.
nutrition facts
I just made about four times this recipe with the help of two instant pots and loved the flavor of everything! It reminded me of restaurants curry beef. I forgot about the shallots, used minced up onion instead and eyeballed the amount. I made it a few days ahead of time for an event and froze the curry for a few days before thawing and reheating in the oven.
One note, I did find that the beef (rough flank) was still tough after pressure cooking for 35 minutes. I ended up cutting it into smaller pieces (1” pieces) and putting it all in the oven to braise at 300f for 2 hours. This rendered more fat and really left the beef quite tender. I’ll definitely come back to this recipe for some goodness classic curry!
Interesting! The meat was so tender when I did this. I wonder if it has to do with natural pressure release vs. quick pressure release. If the pressure is released slowly, the beef has longer cooking time under pressure. Perhaps that’s it? I’ll have to experiment with this further!
I made this with venison, it was phenomenal. I have enjoyed your blog and learned so much. I appreciate the explanations of ingredients!
Wow! Venison curry sounds amazing. I don’t have access to it where I live (not sure where I’d even buy it!), but will have to try it one day. :)
Have never felt compelled to leave a comment, but I use this website so often that I just wanted to say thank you. I grew up in Hong Kong, now live in New York, and this website connects me to memories of my family and my childhood. I must have made at least 50 of the recipes so far. Very appreciative.
Hi Darren, we do appreciate your comment. It’s like getting our report cards, and we need to know that we are doing a good job! :-) Thank you so much!
Thank you Darren! We also very much appreciate comments like yours, which help us to keep doing what we do! :)
Thanks so much for this. I had this cut at a Vietnamese place and loved it and had no idea what it was. I went to my local Asian market and found it today. Made it tonight.
Great recipe. I used Jamaican hot curry powder, added a 1/4 cup of chili flakes, and finished it with green onions. So good.
This is easily one of the best food sites online. Thanks for what you do.
You’re welcome, Rich! So glad you enjoyed it :)
I’ve made this twice now in a regular stove top pressure cooker. I’m thankful for the recipe as my father-in-law used to make this, and I like to keep the traditional family recipes going.
Love that, Vicki! Glad you found this recipe. :)
This recipe is a real WINNER!
I’d be curious if you could, in the future, add more Asian infused Instant Pot recipes? The pressure cooker is such an underutilized weapon in the kitchen :)
Keep up the great work.
Agreed on the instant pot, Justin! We’ll definitely be developing more Instant Pot recipes. :)
What a great recipe. Used a pressure cooker and cooked on high pressure for 40 min with natural release. Used the standard Japanese “S&B Oriental Curry Powder,” which has no heat — 3 T. The rough flank from the local Chinese butcher is a really great cut of meat with that great cartilage or whatever it is that you refer to as “silver skin,” which adds terrific texture to the dish — no cuisine is as big on texture as Chinese cuisine. Maybe next time I will add say lotus root or carrots or daikon or bamboo tofu after the meat is done and cook it for say another ten minutes with no pressure. Thank you for introducing me to this great dish. One of the things i love about this website is if you follow the recipes you will make better Chinese food than about 95% of the so-called “Chinese restaurants” in America.
Hi Jack, thanks for the compliments and for sharing your experience with us! Glad that you enjoyed this dish! Like the idea of adding other vegetables, and your comments on the texture of the dish, which is what it’s all about. Happy cooking!
Could you make this recipe with thai yellow curry paste?
hey Derek, this recipe is for a specific kind of cantonese curry, so thai yellow curry paste would taste very different. The recipe also uses curry powder rather than paste, so I’m not 100% sure how much curry paste you’d need. At least not until I experiment with it myself. That said, if you decide to give it a go, let us know how it turns out!
Thanks for the reply. I have both in my pantry so I was curious. I’ll try your recipe first because I’ve never been disappointed. Thank you!
Great recipe! This site reminds me of that Dire Straits song… You do the wok, yeah, you do the wok of life… by Mark Knopfler
Hahaha love it, Lee!
Thank you for developing and sharing this recipe! I made it over the weekend, using beef chuck (and I did not blanch). It was delicious and a big hit with the family. Definitely share more Instant Pot (pressure cooker) recipes, please! Thanks again!
Thanks for the feedback, Monica! Great to hear it worked well with chuck. :)