KERALA STYLE BEEF FRY aka ERACHI ULARTHIYATHU

This is one of the food that I regularly make these days, especially when I crave for that typical Kerala food that we had at home. And whenever I used to see Amma making this, I don't know why,but I always felt that it was kind of a very -precise-calculated recipe. She never went by tablespoon of teaspoon measurements, maybe because of that ;)

So before our wedding, I had asked Amma to write down some of her recipes for me in a separate book. And she did! I must admit I own quite a lot of cookbooks from various authors, but I carried only 3 books with me to US. Those are Amma's handwritten recipes, her favourite Chinese cookbook and my recipe 'collection'. Afterall, that's all that you would really want for your daily cooking! :)

But when I had to make this, I couldn't find Amma's handwritten recipe book was nor did I have the time to hunt for it then. So I went ahead with the proportions I thought would be perfect...sometimes I even go by the smell of the food ;)

The knife that you see above was Jobin's surprise gift for me as soon as we moved into our apartment. It is one of the best gifts he has ever given me...a Wusthof 8" Chef 's Knife. And that's the first knife to enter our kitchen. It is marvelous! I don't think I need to talk about a Wusthof so I quote Jobin's bro here, 'It's the best knife money can buy ! ' It sure is!

So let's move on to the recipe. Finla, this is for you :) I am sorry to have kept you waiting for so long!

KERALA STYLE BEEF FRY/ERACHI ULARTHIYATHU
My own recipe

Ingredients:
Beef - 2 lb ,cut into 1" squares
Onions- 3, medium sliced fine
Tomatoes- 2, medium chopped
Coconut slivers/Thenga kothu- 1/2 cup ( I did not have any, so I skipped them)
Red Chili powder- 1 heaped tbsp (I used the spicy type, so 1 heaped tbsp was enough. Go as per your taste)
Coriander powder- 1 1/2 heaped tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger -garlic paste- 2 tbsp
Salt-to taste
Water- 1/4 cup ( You need not add this at all if you are not draining/ drying the meat after washing it)
Vinegar- 1 tbsp ,optional ( You need to add this only if you feel your curry is lacking it. For me, tomatoes did the work)

For frying/tempering:
Onion- 1, medium sliced fine
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Oil-6-7 tbsp

Method:

• Put all the ingredients into a cooker , mix well and pressure cook it for 2 whistles. (The beef I use needs only 2 whistles, but if you feel your's is still uncooked, give it one more whistle and check.) Do not over cook the beef here, because it might break/crumble while we fry/temper it.
• Once the beef is cooked and if you have water left in the cooker, cook till the water is evaporated almost completely. At this stage you can freeze the beef and thaw and use it later as follows.
• In another pan, heat oil, crackle the mustard seeds and saute the onions in it till soft.
• Add the cooked beef into it and fry it till you get a nice dark brown colour for the meat.
• Serve hot with rice, chapathi , appam or bread!

Verdict: It was fingerlicking, lipsmacking-ly good! Jobin adores it! And I love cooking it! :) Your house would be wrapped in the aroma of it...whether you like it or not! ;)