Spicy Beef Masala

Before I start, let me mention that this post is written specially for a fellow blogger, Neelu. She too hails from Kannur and these days it somehow happens that all Kannur-ians that I meet are somehow connected. After few chats with her, I realized that we are distant relatives and neighbours back home! We even went to same school in the same bus, and let me mention that was more than 2 decades ago - Coincidence. You can check out the same post at Neelu’s space here.

Even though, officially winter starts in December, I feel it is already at the doorstep. Freezing breeze and chilly mornings, early sunset and late sunrise, bright blue sky to grey cloudy sky all ring a bell about onset of winter. It’s been really sunny and warm couple of weeks back and within a week it dropped from 21 degrees to 6 degrees Celsius! Ahh! After all, that is what UK is notorious for- its unsettled and unpredictable weather. Hence, that wasn’t a surprise, in fact, very much expected. Here we get to feel and see all the four seasons, with all the obvious seasonal changes. We also get different varieties of seasonal fruits and veggies, at low cost when they are in season.  Although I don’t really make use of the seasonal fruit and veggies in cooking and baking, I try to eat them raw. It is autumn now with beautiful colours of fall foliage around, yet the chilly weather just keeps u wrapped up in the comfort of home.

I am a beef lover and I prefer it to chicken. Or am I getting too bored of taking chicken all the time? I don’t really know. Even though beef is my favourite, I don’t prepare it on regular basis as my men are not great fans of it and its high cholesterol content. But nothing would taste better than some spicy, hot meal or a soup during these cold days. Snug yourself on the sofa, covered up in a blanket, with a plate of these beef fry with some chappatis or rice  is a means of simple pleasure for me. That’s what I did the next afternoon I cooked this! So delicious!

A bit of cooking, little bit of photography and a lot more of chit-chat; that’s pretty much all I do these days apart from taking some initiative on my career side. As my little one started his school full time, I got lot more of spare time in hand. But my blogging is still creeping slower than ever. Anyways, this is a very simple recipe that requires just less than 45 minutes to prepare, really! This preparation of beef is one of my favourites. You can serve them along with rice, chappatis, pooris, parattas etc.

Spicy Beef Masala
Preparation Time:10 minutes
Cooking time: 30-35 minutes

Ingredients:

½ a kilo beef, cut into 1 inch cubes

Marinade:

2 teaspoon red chilli powder (Mild)

1 ½ teaspoons Coriander powder

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

5 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced

Salt  - as required

Others:

110g, 1 large tomato,

230g, 1 large onion

A handful of curry leaves

½ teaspoon pepper powder

¼ teaspoon garam masala

3 tablespoon coconut oil

Salt, as required

1-4 green chillies slit (Add as per your preference. If you like it mild, add them whole without slitting. )

¼ cup water or more if required.

Preparations:

1. Wash and drain the meat in a colander. Once drained, marinate with all the ingredients under marinade and leave it in fridge for a couple of hours of longer if you have time. You may cook it instantly if you are out of time.

2. Heat a pressure cooker, add meat along with chopped tomato and water and cook on low-medium heat until beef is 3/4^th cooked with the pressure lid on.

3. Take off the lid and cook the meat slowly until the water is all evaporated and the meat is smothered in spices.

4. Heat another pan, add oil. Throw in sliced onions, slit green chillies and curry leaves and sauté till onion becomes golden.

5. Add meat along with the spices and cook slowly until it is dry and brown. Add pepper powder and garam masala and cook for 3-4 minutes.

The longer you cook, the darker the colour you get. Slow cooking usually brings darker coloured gravy. You can also cook this without pressure cooker which takes real long time, but always taste better than the pressure cooked one.

 If you prefer, you can also throw in a handful of sliced coconut along with onions.