Braised Beef Short Ribs Curry

Fall off the bone, tender, succulent braised short ribs in our most favorite Kerala style curry base with coconut milk. This one-pot Braised Beef Short Ribs Curry is a great dinner option with some bread, rice or polenta on the side. This recipe easily makes extra to save some for leftovers also.

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If you are a regular reader here, you know that the husband is a meat-a-holic. It took me a while for me, who has been a vegetarian all my life, to know what he likes, learn how to cook meat and season and flavor it well. I had a lot of help. Or rather, I took help from anywhere and everywhere I could. AJ’s family, of course, is from where I learnt the most about cooking meat and seafood. And then friends, friend’s moms (and dads), neighbors, basically, anyone who would let me watch them cook and flavor meat, I would go learn from them.

Now that I have been cooking meat for him and our friends and neighbors for well over 12 years, I have started to venture into coming up with my own recipes, with some already successful bases that I have used in other recipes. 

This braised beef short ribs curry is one such recipe. I learnt and knew how to braise meat. I then learnt how to braise short ribs in particular, especially with the bone on one side and the meat on the other. 

I then used my go-to curry base with coconut milk, the one I use in my Slow Cooker Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk, and combined that with the braised beef short ribs to make this delicious braised beef short ribs curry. The sauce is my basic curry sauce, rich and with layers of flavor with the onion, garlic, ginger, the spices and all brought together by the creamy coconut milk.

If you are looking for other coconut milk based curries, here are some favorites:

• Winter Melon and Red Beans Curry with Coconut Milk
• Kerala Potato Curry with Coconut Milk
• Coconut Milk Egg Curry
• Kerala Style Coconut Milk Fish Curry
• Kerala Style Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk
• Kerala Style Chicken Stew
• Breakfast Potato Stew with Coconut Milk

What are short ribs?

Short ribs are cuts of beef taken from the chuck, brisket, plate or ribs. They are called short ribs because they are cut shorter, typically about 3-4 inches long and not the entire length of the rib.

Since short ribs come from the tougher part of the animal, they need to be cooked low and slow to break down the connective tissues and make the meat tender. Short ribs also have a high fat content, which helps keep the moisture in, during the long cooking time.

Short ribs are the best cut of meat for braising, that they are even called braising ribs.

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How to braise beef short ribs?

Season and brown the short ribs on both sides. Add onion, aromatics and stock or other liquid and slow cook for a couple of hours. It can be cooked low and slow in a slow cooker or crock pot, on the stove top or in the oven. The result is fork tender, falling off the bone, juicy meat.

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How to make Braised Beef Short Ribs Curry

The ingredients for making braised beef short ribs curry may look like a mile long, but if your pantry is stocked enough for making curries and other Indian food, this is a fairly easy to put together recipe. It does take a while to cook though, but the prep part is not that much.

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1. Season the ribs and cook them till brown on both sides. Keep aside.
2. In the same pan, add the aromatics - onion, ginger, garlic and curry leaves. Cook till the onions soften.
3. Now, add in the spices and let it infuse into the aromatics.
4. The chopped tomatoes go into the pan next.
5. Once the tomatoes are soft, add the coconut milk.
6. Simmer for a few minutes and then add the short ribs to this curry sauce. 
7. Cover and let cook in the oven for about 2 hrs.
8. Serve hot with naan. You can also serve it over polenta or rice.

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Tips for making braised short ribs curry

• Season the short ribs before you brown them and then season the curry base as well. Layers of seasoning is the best way to get all those flavors in.
• When browning the meat, let it sit in the pan in a single layer, and cook on one side for 3-4 minutes before you flip them over. That is the best way to get a good sear. Be patient.
• Use a nice wide cast iron pan or dutch oven so all the short ribs can stay in one layer and you can use the same pan to put it in the oven to cook low and slow.
• It needs at least 2 hrs of cooking in the oven. 2 ½ - 3 hrs would be ideal.
• If the fat is too much for you, don't trim the fat from the beef. It helps to keep the meat moist when cooking for a long time. Instead, make ahead and chill in the refrigerator. The fat will form a nice layer on top and you can skim that off before reheating the curry to serve it.
• To reheat, keep it out from the fridge for 30 mins or so to get to almost room temperature and then heat in the oven or on the stove top.

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