Beef and pepper curry

Beef and bell pepper curry over udon

After all that cheesecake, I think you need to eat something a bit more healthy.

No big family story behind this one, I swear (I'm still a little verklempt over sharing that recipe, honestly).

Always on the lookout for a quick-and-easy recipes for weeknight dinners, I came across this one in the new (June 2012) issue of Eating Well magazine. The timing was great, as apparently it's mega mango season in Mexico, so the stores are full of ripe mangoes, on sale.

(Yes, yes, I try to eat locally as much as possible, but sometimes you just can't if you want to have a little excitement in your diet. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I highly doubt that there are any mango farmers in Vermont.)

Speaking of mangoes, if you enjoy them and eat them more than once each year, I strongly urge you to invest in the OXO Good Grips Mango Splitter. Honestly, this is pure genius. Cutting mangoes is a royal pain in the ass and you always end up with a lot of messy waste. This little gadget takes the guesswork out of where to make those cuts to get around the large, fibrous pit -- every single time. You just put the stem nub end of the mango down on your cutting board, position the cutter over the top of the mango and push down. Done!

You still have to remove the juicy insides from the exterior flesh by hand, but that's the easy part. Just deeply score a criss-cross pattern into each half and bend it inside out. The little cubes will just pop right up, making them super easy to slice off the skin.

This curry calls for beef (I used a local sirloin), but I'm going to give it a whirl with chicken breast as well, as I think it would be equally as yummy. The combination of the peppers and the sweet mango is perfect -- the mango actually makes the sauce a little syrupy, which is perfect for coating the noodles. (I used udon, but you can use whatever kind you prefer.)

As always, pin it if you love it -- and please leave a comment if you make it.


Note: since I didn't modify the recipe at all, I'm just going to link you directly to it:

Recipe link: Beef and Pepper Curry from Eating Well