Spicy Beef Masala
When it comes to quick and satisfying meals in Kerala Non- Vegetarian foodies, a preparation with Beef will be at the top of the list. How about a Beef Masala with spices that leaves the flavours lingering in your mouth and mind for a pretty long time? Mind-blowing, isn’t it? But how to cook one of them? It must be difficult. No. Not at all. Read on for the secrets of the beautiful masala curry.
Kerala and beef preparations are almost synonymous. People of Kerala just love a semi-gravy beef masala with crispy Kerala Porotha with either a challas (it is a type of onion salad, you can find the recipe here) or simply some onion slices and lemon wedges. Yummy!
My stint with beef
Born in a Hindu family in India, we tend to keep beef a distance away. In my childhood, I did not know red meat other than Mutton. Thus one day, when a very close friend of mine in school shared a meat Kebab from her tiffin one day after Eid, I enjoyed it to the fullest. Neither did I know it was a beef delicacy nor did she know that we avoid beef. As kids, we were not injected with all these rules. That day at home I came to know about this new red meat concept, Beef.
Years passed by, it was my first day in my Engineering College hostel. As usual, there were a series of introductory ragging sessions where we had to sing, dance, mimic scenes from movies etc. I had joined after 2 weeks for some reason. So I missed the mass entertainment sessions.
My session was to have dinner with my seniors and not waste a thing on my plate. That day the menu was Ghee rice with a non-vegetarian dish. I went over to the counter and took the food served, without even noticing the non-veg option and also that there was a veg option too kept on the other side. I took the plate over to the seniors’ table and ate my dinner, enjoying the flavours. Little did I know that it was a Beef masala. The taste of the preparation made by the cook, we used to call Itha, just lingered in my mind, till date.
My version, with memories of my first dinner at the College hostel
After several trials and errors, I finally landed on this version, which I feel is the closest to the flavour memory. The essence of this masala curry is the spice mix.
I have used one black cardamom here. Black cardamom has an earthy flavour that when combined with meat gives an excellent result. But, in case, you put more than that, it can overpower all other spice flavours. I have a post regarding Spices. It can be a good read as many secrets of spices are opened to you. Also, it might be useful to you to come up with new flavours.
Spice Mix
A few important points to remember while preparing the masala
- Always dry roast the spice. Be sure to make the pan dry before adding the spices. Also, dry roast on low heat. Do not overheat, as chances are there for their burning.
- While dry warming the spices, the order of adding the whole spices should be in the following order.
- Cinnamon sticks
- Black Cardamom
- Cloves
- Green Cardamom
- Star Anise
- Nut Mace
- Coriander Seeds
- Dry Red Chilly
- Black Pepper
- Fennel
- Nutmeg
- Jeera
- Shajeera
- Salt
- Do not brown the spices. They should be warm enough for your fingers to bear.
- If you are using an electric mixer to grind the masala, then remove from heat when still slightly warm, as the electric mixer generates heat while grinding.
Spicy Beef Masala
Ingredients
- 1 kg Boneless Beef cut into small cubes
Spicy Masala Mix
- 1½ inch Cinnamon Stick broken into small pieces
- 1 Black Cardamom
- 3 Green Cardamom
- 4 Cloves
- ½ Star Anise
- ½ Nut Mace
- ⅕ Nutmeg
- 1 tbsp Fennel
- 6 Kashmiri Chilly whole broken into small pieces
- 1 tbsp Whole Black Pepper
- 3 tbsp Whole Coriander Seeds
- ⅕ tsp Shajeera
- ⅕ tsp Jeera
- ¼ tsp Salt
Marination and Cooking Beef
- 1 medium Onion sliced
- 1½ medium Tomatoes cut into cubes
- 1½ tsp Ginger Garlic paste
- 1 tsp Spicy Masala Mix
- ¾ tsp Pepper Powder
- Salt to taste
Masala Curry
- 4 medium Onion sliced
- 3 nos Fenugreek seeds
- ½ tsp Mustard seeds
- 2 sprigs Curry Leaves
- 2 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
- 3 tbsp Spicy Masala Mix
- 2 Green Chilies slitted
- 2 tbsp Coconut Oil or any Vegetable Oil
Instructions
Preparing the Spice Masala
- Dry roast the whole spices, along with salt. Cool a bit and grind to a fine powder. Keep in an airtight container, to avoid the loss of flavour aroma, till use.
Marination and Cooking Beef
- Clean the beef and cut it into the desired size. Preferably, 1" cubes. This enables each piece to grab in the masala and get the taste. Be sure to make the pieces almost the same, for even cooking.
- Marinate beef with the ingredients mentioned in the respective ingredients group. Keep aside for half an hour.
- You can cook the meat using either a pressure cooker or a pan.If cooking in a pressure cooker, do not add water at all. Water from the meat will be enough for it to cook. Allow the first steam to release and then reduce the flame to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes.If cooking in a pan, add just ¼ cup of water and cook with lid covered, on medium-low heat.
- Cook beef till 80% cooked. It should remain a bit stretchy.
Preparing the masala
- In a thick bottomed pan, add oil.
- Once hot, add mustard seeds and allow them to splutter. Then add in the sliced onions and cook till golden brown.
- Add in the curry leaves and fry for a minute.
- Now is the time to add ginger garlic paste and mix well. Allow it to cook till the raw smell disappears.
- Next, add ¾ of the spice mix powder. and cook for a minute.
- Add in ¼ cup of warm water or beef stock from the cooked meat.
- Let it cook for a minute or two. Then add the cooked meat. Mix well.
- Allow the curry to come to a rolling boil. Then cook with a lid closed to lock in the flavours. This should be done on low to medium-low heat. add in the sliced green chillies. Allow the meat pieces to be cooked perfectly.
- Once the meat is cooked, sprinkle the remaining spice. If you feel, you want a thicker gravy, then bring it to boil over high heat and allow it to come to the desired consistency.
- Add in another sprig of curry leaves and close the lid. Let the curry flavours come together for some time.
- Serve with any main course of your choice, like Ghee Rice, Porotha etc with Challas as an accompaniment. Enjoy!
Notes
- Best to use boneless beef, preferably tender beef. I, personally, prefer tender beef and not buffalo meat(pothu erachi).
- Masala is the base of this recipe. Be careful not to over fry the dry whole spices.
- Cook meat separately before adding to the masala mix for best results.
Be sure to try this recipe. I would love to hear from you. Give your comments and reviews. Thank you and enjoy the flavours!
