For this, you need to use a heavy-bottomed pan – with a good lid - that’s easily big enough to hold all your curry’s ingredients. I used a cast-iron Dutch oven.
The first step is to fry a couple of batches of the chunky cubes of beef to give them a darkish golden color, and to melt down most of the beef’s fat.
So, set your big pan on high heat and add the coconut oil. As soon as it starts shimmering – but not smoking – add a batch of the beef in a single, evenly spaced layer. You want there to be a gap of about 1/3-inch between the cubes so that they’ll start to fry in that sizzling hot oil. If you crowd the beef tightly together in the pan, it will tend to boil in its own juices, rather than fry and pick up that dark golden color.
Let the first batch fry on its high heat for 90 seconds, and then turn the pieces so they can all fry in that sizzling-hot oil for another. Good. Use a slotted spoon to remove the beef and set it aside on a plate. Try to leave as much of the fatty oil in the pan as you can, and then repeat this goldening process with your next batch of beef.
Drop your big pan’s heat to medium-high and quickly stir the onions into the hot, nicely fatted oil. Fry the onions with a few stirs for 5 minutes on that medium-high heat. You want the edges of the onion to darken a little, and as soon as that happens, drop the heat to low-medium, and stir in the chilis, garlic, and ginger.
Let it all fry with the occasional stir for 3 minutes on that low-medium heat, and then stir in the star anise, cloves, cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, fennel, black pepper, and salt.
If you feel that the mix seems a little too dry, add another tablespoon coconut oil, and fry the whole spicy mixture over low-medium for another 5 minutes.
Now stir in the tomatoes, the tamarind paste, and its dissolving water. Turn the heat to medium and stir in the tomatoes. Let the pan come up to a barely bubbling boil and stir in the beef together with all the juices from the plate it’s been sitting on.
Stir in the coconut milk, and when the pan begins to simmer, cover it and drop the heat to low. You now want your curry to cook – slowly and covered – for 2 ½ hours at a very gentle simmer. Give it a few good stirs as it cooks, and make sure it keeps cooking at that slow, gentle simmer – by adjusting the heat accordingly, if necessary.