Cantonese Beef Brisket Curry (Ka Li Niu Nan / 咖喱牛腩)

Place the brisket pieces in a pot of cold water. Bring to the boil and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. The surface of the meat should be clean and free of grey foam.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based pot or wok over medium heat. Add the onion wedges and cook, stirring, until softened and faintly golden at the edges. Add the curry powder and Chu Hou paste and stir for 1–2 minutes until the spices bloom and the paste smells fragrant and no longer raw.

Add the blanched brisket to the pot and turn to coat thoroughly in the spiced paste. Pour in the water or stock, add the sugar and salt, and bring to a gentle simmer. This step is where the dish lives or dies: the heat must stay low enough to maintain a bare simmer — never a rolling boil — so that the brisket surrenders its collagen slowly into the broth without toughening. Braise, covered, for at least 2 hours, until the meat offers no resistance to a chopstick pressed through it.

Add the potato chunks in the final 45 minutes of braising. They should absorb the curry broth and become completely tender without disintegrating. Press a piece with the back of a spoon — it should yield cleanly with no chalky core.

Taste and adjust salt and sugar. The broth should be mild, fragrant, and slightly sweet, enriched by the gelatin released from the brisket and thickened by starch from the potatoes. Served over steamed rice or with vermicelli, with ample broth ladled over.