First, gather all the spices together. The cinnamon, lemongrass, star anise, cloves, cardamom pods and lime leaves.

Now, prepare the beef.

Trim all of the fat off and cut into good-sized cubes.

Finally, gather all of the other ingredients together. Oil, coconut milk, sugar, water and lime juice.

Now, mince all of the spices in a blender. If you don't have a blender then finely chop, crush and grate the spices. 

Prepare the desiccated coconut by, first, placing on a small fray skillet.

Now, place this over low heat and keep stirring until the coconut has toasted, or dry roasted.

Heat the oil over low-medium heat in a casserole pot and lightly cook the blended spices along with the star anise, cardamon, cinnamon and cloves through until you can smell their fragrance.

Now, add the beef and seal the meat.

With the meat sealed add the coconut milk, water, lime juice, bruised lemongrass and toasted coconut and heat through for 5-7 minutes. Keep stirring.

Pre-heat the oven to 180C / 160C Fan.

Finally, add the dry roasted coconut and stir in. Place the lid on the casserole dish and place in the oven. Check after one hour and then cook for up to another hour depending on how dry you want the curry. If the curry does dry up then add more water or coconut milk.

Once cooked, remove from the oven and serve with boiled jasmine rice. What a recipe! Yum!!