Beef Masala

It's taken me only about 36 months,to put up my first beef recipe. So it isn't a surprise that I don't cook a lot of beef. I rarely do. In fact as a kid, I think the only time I ate beef was during those summer holidays I spent at my grandmother's. She made excellent beef masala . . . . . .  and coconut toffee and chicken curry , hell, even the dal she made was one helluva dish. What fond memories of a beautiful grandma, I miss her much, but I'm so thankful for all the memories I have with her. Precious!!!!

Soooooooo, I have a prejudice about beef dishes, that is; I believe the best beef dishes are made Kerala style. Justified right. I think they have some amazing recipes for meat, ones that use a variety of spices and greens. As always, I went through loads of recipes, before I stumbled across this one on this blog and decided to go ahead with it.
Though it was a recipe for beef curry, I ended up making a slightly dry version of it .The recipe makes great use of spices and the flavour of the curry leaves really shines through, and Oh btw, I love curries with curry leaves, just so much flavour. I used about half a kilo of beef, cut into small pieces and pressure cooked the beef first, before adding it to the masala. I tossed the beef into a pressure cooker with a bit of water and salt, and let it cook for about 20 minutes, till it was tender. This cooking time will of course depend on how tender the beef is. See, this is why I don't cook too much beef; I end up cooking it, opening the cooker, only to find that the meat needs to be cook a little longer. Sigh, buuuuuuuut, that isn't so much trouble once in a while is it? The recipe includes grinding a masala, don't be put off by it, it's simple and you don't need to roast any spices first. Also the recipe uses coconut oil, and I wouldn't change that. Keralite recipes mostly use coconut oil, and taste best using it.

So here's the recipe, adjust the spices according to your taste, and whichever way you go, you'll still end up with a great dish.

Here's what you will need :
Adapted from mariasmenu.com
Ingredients:

1/2 beef, cut into pieces, pressure cooked till tender

Grind to a fine paste :

10 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
1/2 tsp peppercorns
1/2 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp corriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp fennel
2 pods of cardamom pods
1 star anise
1 piece cinnamon
2 cloves


Slice :
2 onions
1 piece of ginger
2 green chillies

You will also need
Salt
2 sprigs of curry leaves
Coconut oil 1 tbsp.

1. Start with pressure cooking the meat with a little water and salt. Cook till meat is tender. Reserve the water.
2. Grind all the ingredients for the masala.
3. Heat coconut oil in a non stick vessel. Fry the sliced onions.
4. Then add the curry leaves, green chilly, ginger. Cook till onions are soft
5. Add the ground masala, and fry till the oil and masala separate.
6. Add the meat,with the water, and check salt
7. Cook for about 5 minutes. If you don't want too much gravy, cook on high heat till the water dries up.
8. Serves with rice or rotis.