Beef Ularthiyathu (Beef Fry)

This is one dish that majority of us Keralites will call as irresistible. One of the all-time favourites of my husband (seems like this is also a favourite side dish along with booze). This dish has small boneless beef cubes fried with coconut pieces. It practically stays fresh for like 1 week or more and seems to get tastier each time you reheat it. In my case my hubby’s version usually ends up tastier than my version & for his IP reasons he hasn’t shared his recipe with me yet!!!!

Ingredients

•        1 kg beef boneless- cut into cubes
•     1 tsp. Fennel seeds (Perumjeerakam)
•     1 inch Cinnamon stick
•     4 Cloves
•     1 tbsp. chilli powder
•     3 tsp. coriander powder
•     ½ tsp. turmeric powder
•     1 inch ginger crushed
•     10-12 garlic cloves
•     ½ cup Coconut pieces cut into small pieces
•     ¾ cup shallots/ pearl onions crushed
•     2-3 green chillies
•     1 onion medium finely julienned
•     Salt to taste
•     2 stalks curry leaves
•     5-6 tbsp. coconut oil

Grind together clove, cinnamon and fennel seeds into a fine powder. In a pressure cooker, add grounded spices, ginger, garlic, turmeric, chilli and coriander powder, salt, 1 stalk curry leaves, shallots, coconut pieces and beef together. Add ½ cup of water.

Pressure cook for about 15-20 minutes on a low medium flame. Once the cooker release its pressure, open and cook on a high flame till the water, if any, evaporates.

Meanwhile in a heavy non-stick bottom pan, add oil and sauté onions till translucent. Add green chillies and sauté. Add the beef and the rest of the curry leaves and fry well slowly on a low flame. It takes time but the result will be FAB!!!! Fry till the colour changes into dark brown.

Transfer to a serving dish.