When Les Goto wrote in search of a beef curry recipe like the one his parents made in the 1950s — with chunks of meat, carrots, potatoes and celery — I was sure I knew what he meant.

Until: “I remember it being quite green and it was great. … As a little kid I remember thinking of it as green beef stew.”

Green? Like a Thai green curry?

Definitely not, Goto said. “It was probably a Hawaii recipe because even Waialae School would make something similar.”

He was sure and I was stumped. Until I mentioned Goto’s request to my friend Joleen. She knew exactly what he meant. Her mother made the same stew, and it was definitely green, turned that way by the curry powder, your basic McCormick brand or something equally supermarket-ordinary.

It’s a Mom Recipe, and from about the right generation. It seemed right.

Joleen wrote it down, I cooked it up and here it is.

So — was it green? Well, in the right light, in a green dish and if the idea is planted in your mind, it does have a hint of green. I’d probably describe it more as yellowish-brownish.

But anyway, Goto and I have come to the conclusion that color is not the point, it’s the taste. (“I was beginning to think that the curry’s color was just my imagination,” Goto conceded in our last exchange. “After all I am not young.”)

Well, this stew is delicious, the meat tender and the curry flavor just right. It will remind you of a plate-lunch curry special, one of those dishes we’d call “local style” — maybe we can’t quite define that style, but we know it when we taste it.

LOCAL-KINE BEEF CURRY

• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 medium onion, diced (about 2 cups)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced, or to taste
• 3 pounds beef stew meat, cut in 1-inch pieces
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans beef broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 celery stalks, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 3 tablespoons curry powder, or to taste
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into bite-size chunks (about 2 cups)
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size chunks (about 4 cups)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

In large pot, heat oil over medium-high; saute onions and garlic until soft, about 2 minutes. Add beef and stir until browned on all sides. Add broth, salt, bay leaves and celery. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer and cook until beef is tender, about 1 hour.

Add curry powder, carrots and potatoes; simmer until potatoes are tender, 10-15 minutes.

Add cornstarch mixture to pot, stirring until gravy thickens. Serves 8.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving: 350 calories, 11 g total fat, 3 g saturated fat, 110 mg cholesterol, 950 mg sodium, 24 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 3 g sugar, 41 g protein.

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