Made with ever-so-cheap chuck steak, this curry only takes 20 minutes to prepare, then you leave it to slowly simmer away while the meat becomes succulent and juicy. It’s packed with vegetables so you only need rice for serving and of course mango chutney if you wish.

For us, the easy option in making a curry (or adding a curry flavour) is to use Herbies delicious medium or mild curry powder. But we know that like us, you probably have a pantry shelf packed with spices you need to use up before they are way, way past their use-by date.

Serves 4 @ $3.25 per serve with rice, less if the chuck steak is on special

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 40 minutes

1 tablespoon sunflower or light olive oil

450 g (1 lb) chuck steak, chopped into cubes

1 onion, peeled and chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

2 carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds

400 g (14 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 cup (250 ml) chicken stock

2 zucchini (courgettes), sliced into rounds

3 cups cauliflower florets

1 cup basmati or long-grain rice

2 tablespoons freshly chopped coriander

For the spice mix, combine:

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon turmeric

¼ teaspoon ground fennel

¼ teaspoon chilli flakes or powder (or to taste)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and brown the meat in two batches for about 1–2 minutes on a medium heat. Remove the meat and set aside. Reduce the heat, add the onions and cook for 5 minutes until they are soft adding a little more oil if they start to stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic, ginger and the spice mix and stir until the onion is coated. Then add carrots, tomatoes, stock and beef and stir to combine everything.

Increase heat and bring mixture to the boil, then lower heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add zucchini and cauliflower and cook, covered for another 30 minutes until meat is tender. Meanwhile cook the rice following your preferred method.

Stir the coriander into the curry and serve immediately with the rice.