Beef Vindaloo

 

      Vindaloo or vindalu (Konkani) is a dish originally from Goa, India. The term vindaloo derives from the Portugese dish "Carne de Vinha d' Alhos", which is a dish of meat, usually pork, with wine and garlic. The dish evolved into the vindaloo curry dish when it received the Goan treatment of adding plentiful amounts of traditional spice and using malt vinegar instead of red wine. Alternate terms are vindalho or vindallo. Restaurants often serve this dish with chicken or lamb sometimes mixed with potatoes. Traditional vindaloos do not include potatoes, the discrepancy arising because the word "aloo" means "potato" in Hindi.

    Vindaloo is a popular dish in many parts of India. The dish has gained popularity in Britain, Germany, the Middle East, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, where it is almost universally featured on Indian restaurant menus. The Vindaloo served in western restaurants is really just a version of the standard "medium" restaurant curry with additional chilli and including potatoes. It is one of the hottest dishes available on the menu where it is served.

Source - Wikipedia

Ingredients

1. Lean stewing beef - 2 lb / 900 gm, cut into 1 inch cubes 
2. Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp / 15 ml
3. Dry red chillies - 4
4. Black pepper corns - 1 tsp
5. Seeds from 5 green cardamom pods
6. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
7. Black mustard seeds - 1 tsp
8. Brown sugar - 1/2 tsp 
9. White wine vinegar - 4 tbsp
10. Oil - 2 tbsp
11. Onion - 1 large, finely chopped
12. Ginger - 1 inch piece
13. Garlic - 7 - 8 cloves
14. Coriander powder - 2 tsp
15. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
16. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
17. Salt - To taste

Method

1. Clean the beef stew pieces. Marinate them with 1 tsp pepper powder and enough salt.

2. Put the cumin seeds, dry red chillies, pepper corns, cardamom seeds and mustard seeds into a spice grinder (or a mortar and pestle) and grind to a fine powder.

 

3. Spoon into a bowl, add the sugar and white wine vinegar and mix to a thin paste. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large heavy pan and fry the chopped onion for about 10 - 15 minutes adding little salt.

4. Put the onions and spice mixture into a blender or food processor and grind to a coarse paste.

 

4. Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan and fry the meat cubes for about 10 minutes until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon.

  

5. Add the ginger and garlic to the oil remaining in the pan(you can add a little more oil if you want, the pan will still have the meat juices that oozed out from the beef, that’s okay). Fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the coriander powder and turmeric powder. Fry for a further 2 minutes.

6. Add the spice and onion paste and fry for about 5 minutes.

7. Return the beef cubes to the pan with 1 1/4 cup / 300 ml water. Cover and simmer for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender.Remember to stir in between so that the gravy would not stick to the bottom of the pan. Serve with plain rice, jeera rice or chapatis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe : Best Ever Indian Cookbook

Kerala Beef Curry and Roast

    It’s Easter time of the year. Beef Curry/roast would be one dish that would find it’s place in tables of most Christian homes. My friends used to invite me to their homes during Easter and Christmas and I had these delicious beef, biriyani, chicken stew, appam, etc. I still savour the taste of all those yummy curries. I still wonder why we Hindus are not able to make non-veg the way Christians or Muslims do.
     Here I am sharing a beef curry and roast recipe in the same post. You can make beef curry, save half your curry (however delicious it may be) and make roast with it.. This is my friend Heney’s recipe. We both used to share recipes when she was here last year. Sadly, she went back to India before I started this blog or else I would have had lots of yummy non-vegetarian Kottayam style dishes to share with you all. She is now busy with her kid otherwise I would have bugged her to pass me her mother’s recipes as her mom is a great cook.
    Coming to the recipe, you can add kashmiri chilli powder/ piriyan mulaku podi for that perfect brown colored beef roast. Also you could add more coconut oil and roast it well. Being a health-conscious person, I sometimes prefer to add less oil.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

For the curry

1. Beef - 3/4 lb
2. Pearl onion - 10 sliced
3. Green chilies - 1-2 slit
4. Ginger - 1.5 inch piece chopped
5. Garlic - 5-6 chopped
6. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Chilliypowder - 1 tsp
8. Coriander powder - 1 tsp
9. Fennel powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Meat masala or garam masala -2 tsp
11. Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
12. Salt - To taste
13. Coconut oil - As required

Method

For beef curry

1. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the pearl onion, green chillies, ginger and garlic. Saute until the onion turns transparent. Lower the flame and add the masala powders and salt. Saute for a few seconds and add in the beef pieces. Mix well, stir for a few minutes and add 1 cup water. If you are planning to make beef roast, you need to add only 1/4 cup water or less. Actually there is no need to add water if your are preparing a roast since water will ooze out from the beef, but I always get scared that it will get burnt that is why I add at least  1/4 cup water. Close the pressure cooker with its lid and cook for 2 whistles at medium heat.

 

 2. Open the pressure cooker when it cools down and add a few more curry leaves. Check for salt. Serve hot with rice/chapatis/appam/idli/dosa/pathiri/bread etc.

For the beef roast

Ingredients

1. Onion - 1 medium sliced lengthwise (Using pearl onions will be more tasty. You can use around 10 pearl onions for this recipe )
2. Ginger - 1 inch chopped
3. Garlic - 3-4 chopped
4. Coconut slices - 1/4 cup
5. Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
6. Pepper powder - 1/2 - 1 tsp (Adjust it according to your spice tolerance level)
7. Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
8. Meat masala - 1/2 tsp
9. Coconut oil - As required
10. Salt - To taste

Method

 

In a deep pan, heat some coconut oil and add the coconut slices. Fry until brown and add the sliced onion, ginger and garlic. Saute until the onion turns brown and oil starts appearing. Now add pepper powder , garam masala powder and meat masala powder. Mix well and add in the cooked beef with the gravy. Again mix well and roast it at low flame until all the water evaporates. Check for salt and masala. Add more coconut oil and roast well at low heat if you want a perfect browned roast.