22 Apr 2012

Tangy and chilli Kerala beef fry


Hello again, it’s been awhile as I have been away on holiday in Singapore. Hope you all had a good Easter break. I have not had much time to do baking recently so here’s a Savoury recipe that I have made quite a few times recently. It’s from miss masalas blog. Do not be put off by the ingredients list-this is super quick and easy to make and fairly low in fat too. I tend not to have fresh red chillies on hand so I use four whole red dried chillies. I also found the amount of coconut was too much for me so I used half the amount and I used frozen grated coconut. I have lots of newsagents nearby owned by south Indians so things like coconut and fresh curry leaves are readily available. I also used double the amount of tamarind roughly. Again from the south Indian shops I buy  one of those jelly-ish blocks of seedless tamarind. I soak a 2 by 1 inch piece roughly in a few tablespoon of boiling water and then crush the tamarind in this after it has soaked for a bit. I use 2-3 teaspoons of this paste.

Recipe:
Feeds 2
     350gm thin beef steaks
     50gm fresh grated coconut
       1 medium onion
       Half tsp fennel powder
        1 tsp coriander powder
        1 tsp cumin powder
        Half tsp chilli powder
        4 whole red chillies
        20 -30 fresh or freshly frozen curry leave
    1 inch ginger
    4 medium cloves garlic
       1 tsp tamarind paste
         2 tbsp oil
      Salt to taste
   If using frozen coconut, take it out of the freezer first. Slice the beef steaks very thin and chop the onion into small pieces. If using boneless chunks of meat, cut them into small bite-sized pieces. Peel and finely chop the ginger and garlic.
In a medium sized wok, bring the oil to heat over a high heat. When it starts sizzling, add the onions, ginger and garlic, chillies and curry leaves and fry until the mixture turns golden in colour. This will take 5-10 minutes.
Next, toss in the beef with all the spice powders and fry on a high heat until the meat is cooked and turns a rich dark shade. Now stir in the coconut, tamarind and when it’s mixed through with the beef, add 2-3 tablespoons of warm water and simmer until it is absorbed. Add salt to taste and eat straightaway curled into hot rotis.
If using a pressure cooker, pressure cook on high for one whistle and at least 25 minutes on low. Don’t add the coconut or tamarind until after the meat is cooked