This creamy coconut mince curry recipe is a real family favourite at my house. I know mince isn’t one of those fancy cuts of meat that gets people all excited, it’s certainly not fashionable. But something about mince wins kids over.
Kids just seem to be comfortable with ground beef when they are young. So much so that my kids would eat spaghetti bolognese or Lasagne every night if they had their choice. I, therefore, welcome another way to serve mince and this beef mince curry fits the bill!
Why Mince Curry?
Ok so I’ve outlined above that one of the reasons I make this curry from beef mince is because my kids like mince. But there are a couple of other reasons as well
- Mince can be a great vehicle for adding vegetables into a kid’s diet. You will see in this recipe there are 2 types of veggies, those that are loud and proud and super visible, and then a few that are cooked into the sauce to boost the vegetable content (Carrot, Zucchini)
- Mince can be a great gateway for upping the plant-based protein content in someone’s diet too. In this recipe, you can substitute half the minced beef for either chickpeas or lentils and it remains delicious and kid-approved
- Curry in general especially sweeter creamy curries tend to be a real hit with my kids, so a meal which combines the 2 things curry and mince was always going to be a winner
Mince Curry In a Hurry!
Now that my kids are entering the age of afterschool activities my need for meals that can be prepped in advance and finished off when we return from said afterschool activities is increasing.
This recipe is one I part cook, and either leave in the fridge or freeze and finish off when required. Essentially I make the meal up to the final two steps, (adding the coconut milk and the spinach leaves) To finish it off I just defrost and/or reheat bringing the mince up to a simmer, stir in the coconut milk and spinach leaves and its ready to go.
Kid-Friendly Curry Recipes
My kids love curry which means I have ended up with a few kid-friendly curry recipes up my sleeve
Beef Mince Recipes
As I said above I find beef mince recipes can be both budget-friendly and kid-friendly. Some other popular mince beef recipes on my site include
I am an ambassador for Countdown New Zealand this means they support my blog by gifting ingredients for recipe creation. I used Essentials coconut milk, in this recipe, this was gifted by Countdown NZ
Mince Curry - Creamy Coconut
Ingredients
- ½ brown onion finely diced
- 1 carrot grated
- 1 courgette grated
- 250 g butternut or pumpkin 1 cm diced
- 1-2 cups baby spinach leaves
- 2 Tbsp oil
- 500 g beef mince
- 2 - 3 tbsp mild curry spice mix
- 1-1.5 cups beef stock
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar optional
- 1 400 ml can coconut milk
Instructions
- Prepare your vegetables, Finely dice the onion, grate carrot and zucchini, dice the pumpkin
- Heat oil in a large frypan
- Add onion, grated carrot and zucchini. Sauté until they have softened and just start to brown
- Add mince and brown
- Add the mild curry spice mix (I use my own curry spice mix that I make up in bulk (recipe here) but any mild curry powder mix or paste will be fine. Cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant
- Add the tin of chopped tomato, 1 cup of the beef stock and the pumpkin
- Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until pumpkin is tender. The mix should reduce and be relatively dry (if the pumpkin is not cooked you may need additional liquid, you can either use some extra water or beef stock)
- At this point, you can pause production, cool and either refrigerate or freeze to finish off later
- To the simmering mince add the sugar (this is optional but I do find it really brings the dish together) Coconut milk and spinach leaves. Cook until the spinach has wilted and the mince mix is thick and creamy with coconut milk
- Season with salt, pepper and or chili flakes as desired
My son only really enjoys 2 meals- curry and Bolognese, so this was a winner for us! Creamy and tasty Thank you!