

Its almost the middle of the winter and all I got to see was just a thin coat of snow that too yesterday in the moonless night! Guess the Snotober totally disrupted the winters rhythm. I boarded the "Polar express" and went as far as "Eight below" and climbed up the stairs of many winter castles ; yet my mind aches for a snow fall at home.
The flurries which drizzled for a couple of minutes last week wasn't strong enough to stir up some spirits. I really need the stormy one at least for once! Only the whistling wind and the mean cold seems to have made its late arrival..! Where are you my pretty lil snow flakes?Come you here and cover the naked trees with your white blanket....
The flurries which drizzled for a couple of minutes last week wasn't strong enough to stir up some spirits. I really need the stormy one at least for once! Only the whistling wind and the mean cold seems to have made its late arrival..! Where are you my pretty lil snow flakes?Come you here and cover the naked trees with your white blanket....
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I have an ever lasting love for Pickles - veg and non-veg. Erachi Achar is a traditional Syrian Christian favorite in central kerala, which occupied a regular spot in my family's pantry, along with other veg, meat and fish pickles. Ammachi sees this as a prized possession always and gives us only a spoon or two at any meal , making us crave for it and wait for the next turn :-).
This is not entirely her recipe ; she sun dries the meat with spices for a couple of days and then make it. This is more of my version,with less vinegar , incorporating ammachi's recipe with another one I referred to from the Cook book - The Kerala Kitchen( Moori Erachi Achar pg 203). The recipe from this book has a very interesting ingredient -mustard paste - which I haven't used (& coriander powder ) since I prefer to stick to the traditional one.
We love the dry versions of all the pickles, so that's what I have here for you today ! Black , dry and spicy , just the way I grew up eating . Trust me , this is excellent with drinks( a Red wine for me and my signature Cherry Mojito for N and my dear cousin J )! I am not sure about the shelf life of "this" pickle , since i haven't had to keep it for more than 4-5 days.
Recipe for Nadan Erachi/ Irachi Achar - Kerala Style Beef Pickle
Serves - 8-10 or just 2 people like us
Total cooking time - less than 1 hour
Yields :- These two jars in the picture
Recipe Source :- Partly from my Mom and grandma +partly from The Kerala Kitchen by Lathika George)
Ingredients:-
Bowl 1
Beef - 1/2 kg ( I prefer stew meat )
Meat Masala - 1/2 tea spoon
Turmeric - a generous pinch
Ginger - Garlic paste - 1/2 to 1 tea spoon
Vinegar - 1/2 tea spoon
Salt to taste
To fry meat
Oil - 2 tablespoon
To make masala
Gingelly oil / Sesame oil - 2-3 tablespoon
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
Fenugreek seeds - a large pinch
Curry leaves - lots
Garlic chopped - 10 cloves
Ginger sliced - a thumb sized piece ( adjust ginger and garlic as per ur likes)
Green chili chopped - 3-4
Kashmiri Red chili powder - 1.5 tablespoon( if using hot chili powder 1 or 2 tea spoons would be enough)
Vinegar - 1 -2 tablespoons ( add more if you like more, I prefer 2 tablespoons of the normal white distilled one or red wine vinegar)
Whole Black peppercorns - 1 tea spoon
Garam masala - a pinch
Salt to taste
Method :-
Clean and cut the beef into bite sized pieces. Marinate with all in Bowl 1 and keep aside for 20-30 minutes. Pressure cook in a medium flame with 2 tablespoons of water , for 2-3 whistles or until done.
Drain in a colander and reserve the stock( 1/2 cup maximum)
Heat 2 tablespoons of any cooking oil in a non-stick pan and fry the beef pieces till brown.
Meanwhile , heat 2-3 tablespoons of gingelly oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they pop up add fenugreek seeds , fry for 10 seconds , followed by curry leaves, garlic, ginger and green chilies. Fry till the raw smell is gone. I love them to be a bit crunchy.
Make a paste with 1 tablespoon of reserved stock , vinegar and red chili powder and add to the pan and fry till the oil separates. Add the remaining stock , bring to boil and add the fried beef pieces along with any oil in the pan . Crush the whole black peppercorns in a mortar and pestle and add to the pan , along with a pinch of garam masala. Simmer for a couple of minutes , stirring often , till it is thick or dry as you like it . Let cool , transfer to clean glass jars and keep in cool dark place or in the fridge.
Notes:-
For more shelf life add more vinegar ( i say not more than 1/4 cup ), & 2 more tbsp of sesame oil.
I don't add coriander powder or shallots to any of the pickles ; it tastes different the next day.
In hot and humid area , better keep this dry version in fridge.
To make gravy , increase the vinegar and stock qty .
Instead pf pressure cooking and frying the meat, you can bake it @ 375 degree for an hour or more and proceed with the process
Happy Cooking
Sarah
64 comments:
Pickle looks perfect!! It reminds me of my mom's preparation. Will definitely try this out :)
I share you everlasting love for pickles :) Ithu kandittu drool, drool, drooool..ah! Pictures are amazing!
wow..that is so awesome...Yummy one sarah..
Aarthi
http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/
wow...that z lovely pickle
Yummmy.......You just took me back to my mom's dishes,I used to love her pickle the most,this ones equally tempting!!just mouthwatering..
Erivum Puliyum
It's one of my FACS, thanks for the recipe!
Great photos btw
Never made pickles with meat..this one tempts me to give it a try..
I too have never made this...Must try this..Thanks a ton 4 the recipe..
I love pickle too. But never tried non-veg version till now. Nice clicks especially the one with ingredients. Love it simply.
Yummmmmyyy........this brings back memories of a beef pickle my aunt used to make when I visited her in Kochi. Bookmarked !!
First time here.... U ve such a wonderful blog...glad to follow u....plz do visit mine if time permits...
Beef pickle is awesome...presentation gets 10/10...
Kandittu kothiyavunnu..drool drool drool
DRoolworthy pickle & the pics are making me go crazy........awesome.
Spicy goodness! There is a new malabar cuisine right down the street from my house and the first thing I ordered there was beef fry and now you are tempting me with this pickle. Yum Sarah! Gotta try my hands on pickles soon.
Perfectly done Beef Pickle. Delicious recipe as well as tempting clicks .Luv it.
Pickle is so tempting Sarah, Kothiyavunnu. As usual pics are fab :) Can we do it with Mutton as well?
It was really funny to hear ur burdock root experience ;) And next time you go to Asian stores try out this veggie, its good as well..
http://cook-ezee.blogspot.com/2011/12/yu-choy-thoran-yu-choy-leaves-stir-fry.html
Yummy looking pickle looks wonderful
mouthwatering pickle..............
I have not come across beef pickle. It looks spicy and tempting.
Looks so good..makes me drool !!
simply love this...super yummy recipe
Tasty Appetite
Hi Sara,
I love your blog for the yummy non veg recipes,just wanted to know if u can try to make this pickl with frozen beef kheema?if not i will try your meatball curry with it :)
Hey ithu super aayittundu kannan....I dont eat beef but sure that it tasted great as ur picture talks about it...
Nice....My mom makes meat pickle for me, it made hostel life tolerable.
And about it's shelf life, I have the same experience as you. It never lasted long enough to find out :)
Wonderful recipe. Absolutely mouth watering and yummy pickle.
yum...will try this for sure..meanwhile, just send me a bottle :-)
kothi vannittu vayya.....superb
mmmmm.... amazing and mouth watering dear. Adipoli... cute bottles..
Seriously salivating here,eventhough i dont eat beef, yummy and super tempting pickle..
@ Kangna....I havent tried making it with ground meat, so I am not sure whether it will work :-)..
Here we go sara kutti, my adaptation of your recipe..http://deepapraveen.blogspot.com/2012/01/beef-pickle-kerala-style.html
We don't eat beef but this looks delicious!
Happy new year girl! i share endless love for pickle, yet to try beef pickle looks great!
Made some 2 months back and need to replenish it..will try your version next time :)
Yum, Yum, Yum and Yum..!! Makes the perfect pickle for a pickle lover like me..! :)
My event- Valentines Day Special
These "pickles" look very nice, I must try this.
I tried it Honey...it was excellent . Thanks for the wonderful recipe.:)
Beef pickles? wow that's something I have never tried...they look so tasty!
Congratulations on completing 3 years, Vazhayila :-) Sorry, I missed that post somehow.
Irachi achar has been a total fav of mine ever since I tasted it for the first time..wish I could grab a bottle from here :-)
pickle adipoliyayittundu...... aashamsakal..........
This dish looks delicious!Your site looks beautiful!Happy 2012!
so tempting!!
this looks so good and mouth-watering!
the only pickle i eat along with fish pickle...and i've a tough time trying to not have it like a curry. this post is an ode to Keralites! lovely soft pics and great narration!
wow..that is so awesome...
throwing in some blanched tomatoes will increase its flavor
ginger really gives a zing...:D
Do you've any asian dumpling recipes - like momo...
I've had this beef pickle only once at a friends place and loved it. Yours looks so tempting. I could have that entire jar!
such food is simply perfect for weather that you described! beautiful photos by the way
This looks really good! Love how you put them into those little jars. Pictures are awesome!
Yes, it is a mild and relatively brown winter. We had some snow (about 3 inches or so) the past two days.
dear Sara,
we made this beef pickle . kidillan.
Love all recipes from vazhayila.
Keep blogging on..
Jins and Jisha
Thanks a lot jins and jisha ..So glad to hear you tried and liked it :-)
oh kothivarunnu.... :)
Hello,
i love ur blog and tried out many of ur recipes. All came out well. Thank u so much for sharing ur recipes. Could u tell me the make and model of ur camera. Ur pictures are awesome!!!!
Marie
yummy,,, mouth watering and by reading this it took me to by back home
hoo yummy,,,thanks for sharing,....by reading this i went all the way to back home...kerala....yummyyyy
thanku sarah..i tried ur recipe.it came out very well...
I tried this today.. omitted the peppercorns, coz i'm not too fond of biting on them while eating and its still Yummm...
Thanks Sarah!
hey sarah, it's first time here. lik ur blog at first look.i was looking for beef pickle recipe. im definitly gng to try dis out
Hai am going to try this tonight . Hope this dish would be great. Superb picture
Sarah... haven't seen any new recipes for a while..are you hibernating :-(
Looking So Delicious,I Like the Pickles,it came out very well.
Missing u vazhayila....
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I have this , it is awesome.
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