Low FODMAP Beef Curry

The one type of cuisine I've missed since being on the Low FODMAP diet is Asian food especially curries. I went out one night and ate a Thai curry. I thought to myself "how bad could it be to eat a little Thai food?". BIG MISTAKE. It took me 5 days to fully recover from my indulgence.

So, once again, I found myself making a Low FODMAP Indian style curry from Sue Shepherd's cookbook to satisfy my taste buds. I couldn't help but include a few more spices to the mix such as curry leaves, ground coriander (cilantro) and star anise.
Culinary genius, Heston Blumenthal, said this about star anise "What particularly appeals to me about star anise is the way it helps intensify meatiness in a dish. If you've ever wondered why humble Chinese spare ribs taste so meaty, even though they don't actually carry much meat, it's the star anise in the spice marinade. Chinese five spice usually contains star anise, Sichuan pepper, cassia, clove and fennel...". Perfect for a beef curry so I had to give star anise a try!

I was so excited about all these different spices coming together to make this beef curry, I was finally going to get my curry fix. One and a half hours later, I tasted a surprisingly mild curry dish. Was I disappointed? Well if I'm honest with myself - yes - but the recipe was not to blame. I had envisioned that the curry would taste like the ones I experienced prior to my FODMAP diet which is another big mistake because they will never be the same in intensity due to the lack of onion and garlic.
Neverthless I enjoyed the beef curry and was grateful for my leftovers for lunch over the next couple of days and accompanied with quinoa.

Spice mix