Pepper Fried Beef

Carnivore friends, this one is especially for you!

This dish can stand up to two bold claims:  1) the best fried beef ever, and 2) Indian food like you've never had it. My husband - who is non-Indian - ranks this dish in his top five favorite foods of all time. In fact, he often asks, "when are we having that charred beef thing?"  Much to his credit, it didn't take him long to learn the actual Malayalam name for the dish, and he says it so beautifully!

I hope you will cherish the dish, and savor it as much as I do!

I hardly ever cook with beef in the house, except for this fried beef dish, and ground beef occasionally. This is essentially my mother's recipe, but when I make this I always leave out a couple of ingredients from the traditional Kerala version either due to lack of easy availability here, or my own laziness to go find them, or some combination of both! By my standards this dish takes a painfully long time to put together (about one hour total, between prep time, and cooking time) but it is sooooooooooooo worth the time. An added bonus - you can make bulk batches of it to freeze in smaller portions and later just fry each portion when needed.

Pepper Fried Beef (Erachi Olathiyathu - in Malayalam, my native tongue)

Serves 4

You will need:

Beef cubes 1 lb

Red or white onion diced ¼ cup
Garlic, 3 cloves crushed
Ginger root ½” piece
Unsweetened Coconut flakes 1 tbsp
Salt, 1 teaspoon or to taste
Veg oil ¼ cup, divided
¼ cup white vinegar

Dry spices:
Coriander powder 1 heaped tbsp
Red chilli powder 1 heaped tsp
Black pepper powder 1 heaped tsp
Cumin powder ½ tsp
Aniseed ½ tsp
Cloves 2
Cinnamon, 1 small piece

In a food processor, or using a mortar and pestle, grind together all the dry spices with the vinegar and keep aside. Then grind ginger/garlic and keep aside.
Fry onions in a skillet in very little oil, until golden brown. Add the ginger/garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes away. Add the dry ground spices and sauté for a couple of mins. Add coconut and sauté. Add the beef and stir well. Add salt to taste. Add about a cup of water, or enough to cover half the beef, cover the skillet and cook on low until beef is done, about 30 minutes. (Note: If you have a pressure cooker, using it for this is a much faster cooking method than using a skillet. If you prefer to use a pressure cooker, add just enough water to cover and cook the beef and pressure cook till done – normally takes about 15 minutes after first steam).
When cooked, remove beef with a slotted spoon, and discard any remaining liquid. (Note: at this point you can freeze the beef in baggies and fry a little at a time when you need to.)
To fry, heat up the oil in a clean, dry, skillet and fry the beef on medium-high until crispy, and dark brown, almost black in color. Serve with rice and any other side dishes. Enjoy!