Kerala Style Beef Ularthiyathu - Beef Dry Fry

"Since the weather has been so "nice" to have something hot and spicy we fed on this mouthwatering beef fry for 2 days and trust me it always taste the best the next day ".

I have been loquacious about my love for authentic mallu dishes, yet i feel totally abashed for neglecting for so long the ultimate Syrian christian recipe for beef and the most favorite recipe of us, Beef Ularthiyathu aka Spicy Kerala Beef Roast. This affair started god knows when and i have never or ever would detest this darling of mine ;). Let's just say I am neck deep in love with this and i make sure I eat it up to my neck every time i get a chance . Speaking of chance, we try not to buy red meat often, but an occasional feast on this Meat Ularthiyathu is  innocuous ;).

There was this restaurant in our home town" Elite", from where my brother used to get me garam garam Porotta and Beef Ulathiyathu, covered in a butter paper and then a news paper. T are you listening? By the time he reaches home, you could see oil blotches on the paper from the Beef fry. It has a different taste and smell to it and of course a lot of memories attached.

I still get that smell , when I write this as if it is wafting from my kitchen here. Luckily for me , both of us" N and Me" comes from same part of the town, grew up loving same eat outs, studied in same school in lower grades, but guess what ; we have never seen each other or knew each other until we were thousand of miles apart in two different continents. So that part of convincing him of my memories is effortless. 

Recipe for Naadan Beef Olathiyathu / Ulathiyathu - Erachi olathiyathu

Serves - 4

Total cooking time - 1 hour

Ingredients:-

To make the Meat masala powder

Bowl -1 Roast and Grind 

Dried red chili - 15   OR  Chili powder 2 table spoon ( I use Kashmiri chilies)

Coriander seeds - 4 table spoon   OR  Coriander powder - 2.5 table spoon

Black Pepper corns - 1 tea spoon

[Cinnamon - 2 small stick,Cardamom - 5,Cloves - 6,Star anise - 2,Bay leaves - 1

Fennel seeds - 1/2 tea spoon] Or garam masala - 1-1.5 tea spoon

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon

To pressure cook

Beef - 1 kg ( an update:- some have asked the cut of beef i use for this..I usually use chuck or stewing meat..but i have tried briskets and sirloin too..i prefer stewing meat but!!! This type of meat is available in all grocery shops in US )

Salt to taste 

Masala powder - half of of the recipe above

To Simmer and roast

Shallots chopped - 1 cup

Garlic chopped - 4-5 cloves

Ginger chopped - a small piece

Green chili chopped - 3 

Coconut cuts ( Thenga kothu) - 1/4 cup

Salt to taste

Curry Leaves

Oil

Method:-

Heat a small pan and add all the ingredients in the section to make meat masala powder, except turmeric powder. 

Dry roast it for 4-5 minutes on a medium steady flame , until aromatic and brown.

Switch off the heat and add turmeric powder. Grind it to a coarse powder in a coffee grinder. 

This will give you about 5-6 table spoon of meat masala.

Clean and cut the beef into medium cubes and marinate it with half of the prepared masala powder

(around 2.5 - 3 table spoon ) , salt to taste and curry leaves. Pressure cook it for 3-4 whistles.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed cooking pan and add curry leaves and coconut cuts.

Fry for 3-4 minutes and add onion. Saute for 7-8 minutes; add crushed ginger,garlic and green chilies.

Saute till they start to turn brown. Add the remaining masala powder and fry for a minute or two. 

Add the cooked beef along with cooking liquid if any and simmer until it is dry . 

Turn the flame to medium and saute,stirring often and scrape the bottom of the pan to prevent from sticking,until it turns dark and dry. Serve warm

Notes:-

You can add 1 chopped tomato, if you like while sauteing, but i prefer it to be not tangy.

You don need to add water while pressure cooking beef, but sometimes i feel a bit afraid of the safety and add 1/4 cup water.

It is not necessary to pressure cook the beef,you can cook it in a heavy bottomed pan for like 45 minutes.

As i said , it tastes the best the next day;so  keep some for next day too.

Recipe partly adapted from Mom and Mrs K . M . Mathew

Similar recipes:-

• Chicken Ularthiyathu
• Pork Ularthiyathu
• Beef and potato curry

Cheers

Sarah