Drain, cut open and remove seeds from chili peppers. Drain lemon leaves.
Sauté corinader, cumin and crab paste in a wok or non-stick frying pan without oil until strongly fragrant. Grind together with garlic, onion, lemongrass and ginger in a mortar or hand mixer. Add soaked chili peppers and lemon leaves and blend until relatively smooth.
Sauté this mixture in the oil for 3-4 minutes, then add the coconut milk and simmer gently at a low temperature for about 25 minutes until the oil collects on the surface.
In the meantime, cut the meat into short, thin strips. Add to the sauce together with the fresh chili pepper and the beans and simmer on low heat until the beans and meat are cooked. Season to taste with fish sauce.
Serve the beef curry with cooked long grain rice and garnish with coriander sprigs or possibly thinly sliced cucumber.
!! Be careful with the chili peppers! If you don’t like it quite soooo hot, use rather less than indicated.
(Khb 7/97)