Kerala Beef Roast

From my childhood days I have never had beef though on rare occasions I have tasted it. My mother never used to make it as she didnt like it. My husband is a beef lover and thinking of beef takes him back to his childhood days having beef roast at a particular thattukada(small shop) at Trivandrum. It also reminds him of his school days when he used to carry lunch-Beef Roast and Chapati specially prepared by his mom.After coming to US he tried many ways to make me eat beef but never succeeded until he came across Mishmash's Beef Roast recipe. I liked it so much that I started to lose the distaste I had for beef and told him that I would have it again provided its made in a similar way. Thanks Mishmash :) From then on he started searching for different recipes and came out with his own version that I have outlined below.

Ingredients:

2.5 pounds beef

2 red onions chopped

7 shallots

2 tomatoes

4 tsp ginger paste

4 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp mustard seeds

Curry leaves

2 green chillies

3 tbsp fennel seeds

1"cinnamon stick

6 cloves

6 cardamom seeds

2 tbsp chilly powder(adjust according to your taste buds)

2 tbsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp coriander powder

2 tbsp meat masala/garam masala

1/2 coconut cut into 1" pieces

Salt to taste

Coconut Oil

Method:

• In a pan dry roast fennel seeds, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom on medium heat until you get the aroma of spices and colour slightly changes. Cool and then grind it.

• Marinate the beef with the above spices, 1 tbsp chilly powder, 1 tbsp turmeric powder, 1 tbsp coriander powder, 1 tbsp meat masala, 3 tsp each of ginger and garlic paste and salt. Keep the marinated meat for 15 min.

• Add 1 tbsp coconut oil and saute the meat at high heat until it attains light brown colour. Remove it from pan.

• Cook the marinated beef in a pressure cooker.

• Add coconut oil to the pan and saute shallots until it turns brown. Remove from pan. In the remaining oil fry coconut pieces till it changes its colour. Do not brown it at this stage as we would be doing this towards the end.

• Heat 1 tbsp coconut oil to the same pan and splutter mustard seeds. Add curry leaves and then the chopped big onions. Add the remaining amount of ginger and garlic paste and chopped green chillies.Saute till onion turns brown. Add tomatoes and saute for a while till it turns mushy. Add 1 tbsp each of chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, meat masala and salt.Saute till the raw smell goes. Do a taste test at this stage to check if there is enough salt.

• Add the cooked beef and cook till almost 3/4 of the water has evaporated.

• At this stage add shallots and coconut pieces.

• Turn heat to high and roast till the meat has turned dark brown and dry as shown in the picture. In the process of roasting at high heat keep stirring occasionally else it would stick to the bottom of the pan.

• Enjoy with Appam/Porotta!

Pooja.

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