Beef (or Mutton) Pepper Curry
A classic Mangalorean style meat dish that can be made with mutton or beef tastes wonderful with piping hot rice or chapathis
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 kg beef or mutton on the bone, cut into medium sized pieces
- 2 medium-big onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tomato, sliced
- 1-2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and quartered (optional)
- salt to taste
- oil or ghee for shallow frying
- For the masala:
- 1-1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds
- 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2-3 cloves
- 1/2 inch stick of cinnamon
- 1 inch piece fresh ginger
- 4 fat cloves of garlic, with skin
- 1-2 small green chillies, spicy variety, de-seed if you wish
- 2 medium sized onions, roughly chopped
To be fried and ground (optional step see notes):
- 2 tablespoons grated coconut
- 1 medium sized tomato, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon black gram dal (urad dal)
- 4-5 curry leaves
- a few drops of oil
Instructions
- Wash the meat and place it on a colander to drain and then transfer to a bowl.
- On a heavy based skillet, fry the urad dal, curry leaves and coconut till you get a nice aroma. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry for another minute or so. Remove onto a plate and let it cool.
- Grind the dry spices (coriander, peppercorns, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves) mentioned under 'For the masala' to a fine powder. Add the ginger, garlic, green chilli, onions and the fried coconut-tomato mixture and grind everything to a fine paste. Marinate the meat with this masala and salt to taste and keep aside for 10-15 minutes. Rinse the grinding jar with 1/2 cup of water and reserve it too.
- Heat oil or ghee in a pressure cooker and fry the sliced onions till golden brown. Add the marinated meat, sliced tomato and fry for about 1-2 minutes. Then add the reserved masala water and another 1 or 1-1/2 cups of water and mix everything well.
- Cover the pressure cooker, place the weight (whistle) and cook on full heat for 4-5 whistles. Then reduce the heat completely to sim and cook for another 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and let the cooker cool down a bit till the whistle loosens up. Open and check if the meat is tender, if not, cook it further for another 1-2 whistles.
- If you wish to add potatoes you can add them now and cook the curry on a medium heat till the potatoes are tender. Adjust
- Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with dosa, plain paratha, idli, chapathi, sanna, rice or pulao.
Notes
1. If you are running short of time you may skip the roasting process (as mentioned under 'To be fried before being ground'), however doing this imparts a great flavour to the curry.