Today seems to be such a beautiful day. Even though the temperatures are not that low to speak off, still a look outside from my balcony speaks of a lot of serenity. Can be because it's the blessed Friday!!! When the skies look clear with a beautiful tinge of blue, I feel automatically it would make anybody's mood feel nice. I enjoyed my time in the kitchen, peaking out to see the beautiful blue time to time. By the way, my parents have reached safely back home and the kids seem to be missing them more than I do! I sometimes feel they also need a break from their current surroundings, right? :)
Normally when unmma is around, it's easy to decide on dinner. She will decide on the main ingredient and then I have to do the rest. One day, while I came back from office, umma had already put the beef in the bowl. That's when I thought of making curry in our "thani naadan" (absolute country) style. While I was doing the cooking, umma was sitting in the kitchen, so I inquired with umma as to how beef used to get cooked on the "aduppu" (flame oven) back home long time before. She said that they would leave it on the lit stove from 9 am in the morning, adding little water and stirring occasionally to ensure that it does not get stuck to the pan and then take it off only after the men would come back after the special Friday "Jumuah" prayers at around 2 pm! I remembered how good that beef curry on Fridays used to taste along with Neychoru. Just awesome!!! To recreate the same taste these days is very difficult, considering that most of us are so time-strapped and even the technology available - gas, pressure cooker, etc. - facilitates quick cooking and may not replicate the old tastes. This simple beef curry has some awesome flavors that gets close to the naadan beef curry, without the "aduppu" and the "chatti", of course. If time permits sometime in the future, I would really love to put this on slow cooking and see how much time it takes to make it, but for that I have to be really ready to take it from my HD for the gas bills then! ;)
Normally when unmma is around, it's easy to decide on dinner. She will decide on the main ingredient and then I have to do the rest. One day, while I came back from office, umma had already put the beef in the bowl. That's when I thought of making curry in our "thani naadan" (absolute country) style. While I was doing the cooking, umma was sitting in the kitchen, so I inquired with umma as to how beef used to get cooked on the "aduppu" (flame oven) back home long time before. She said that they would leave it on the lit stove from 9 am in the morning, adding little water and stirring occasionally to ensure that it does not get stuck to the pan and then take it off only after the men would come back after the special Friday "Jumuah" prayers at around 2 pm! I remembered how good that beef curry on Fridays used to taste along with Neychoru. Just awesome!!! To recreate the same taste these days is very difficult, considering that most of us are so time-strapped and even the technology available - gas, pressure cooker, etc. - facilitates quick cooking and may not replicate the old tastes. This simple beef curry has some awesome flavors that gets close to the naadan beef curry, without the "aduppu" and the "chatti", of course. If time permits sometime in the future, I would really love to put this on slow cooking and see how much time it takes to make it, but for that I have to be really ready to take it from my HD for the gas bills then! ;)
Naadan Beef Potato Curry
Serves 4
Ingredients:
For marination:
500 gm beef, washed well
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli powder
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tbsp vinegar
Salt to taste
For curry:
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
2 pcs cinnamon
3-4 cloves
2 large onions, thinly sliced
3 green chilies, slit
1 large tomato, chopped
2 large potatoes, chopped into large pcs
2 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp pepper powder
Salt to taste
Curry leaves for garnish
Method:
Combine the "For marination" ingredients into a bowl and set aside for at least an hour.
In a pressure cooker, heat the oil. Fry the fennel seeds, cinnamon and cloves for a couple of minutes. Add in the onions and green chillies and cook till soft. Add the tomatoes and continue to cook till the tomatoes gets fairly mashed.Add in the coriander powder and fry for a couple of minutes. Now add the marinated beef along with all the masala and the potatoes and give it a nice mix. Add minimum water - around 1/2 cup or less - and salt. Close the lid of the cooker and cook till the beef is done. Normally I cook for three whistles on high and 10 minutes on low flame but solely depends on the beef! Switch off the pressure cooker and allow the pressure to go by itself.
Open the lid, switch on the flame to minimum, sprinkle in the garam masala and pepper powder and allow to simmer for a few minutes. Garnish with curry leaves and serve warm with chappathis or porotta!