Thattukada Beef Fry

For some reason Thattukadas (Road side eateries) always seems to have a special place in a lot of Keralite's heart. One thing I could say for sure is that we (me & R, and I think now my son too) has a special liking for Thattukada preparations. Don't know why, but the food there has a special taste that you would not find in any of the five star restaurants. Among our list of restaurants that we hop on, when visiting India, are a few Thattukadas too - one of the popular ones being Balan's thattukada and the special item there is the Beef Fry. I was thinking about Balan's beef today and had this urge to go ahead and give it a try. This is just an attempt to recreate the memories 'n taste and it came out good.

For Marination:

Beef	- 3 lbs
Chilly Powder	- 1 tbsp
Coriander Powder	- 1 1/2 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste	- 1 tbsp
Fennel Powder	- 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder	- 1/4 tsp
Garam Masala	- 1/2 tsp
Salt	- to taste

Final Preparation:

Chilly Powder	- 1 tbsp
Ginger Garlic Paste	- 2 tbsp
Garam Masala	- 1/2 tsp
Pepper Powder	- 1 tsp
Salt	- to taste
Curry Leaves	- 2 twigs
Oil	- as needed to fry

1. In a pressure cooker, mix the beef with the rest of the ingredients for marination.

2. Pressure cook the marinated beef until it is 3/4 done (may be 2 whistles). No water is needed as there would be enough water coming from the beef.

3. Once the pressure is gone, open the pressure cooker and take one cup of the beef stock.

4. Heat another pan and pour the stock to it.

5. Add Chilly Powder, Pepper Powder and Ginger Garlic Paste to the stock and let it boil.

6. Add the beef to this boiling stock and mix well and let it cook. Add additional stock to this if the beef needs more cooking. Keep in mind we will be frying this too.

7. Check salt and add, if needed.

8. When the beef is almost dry, add the Garam Masala and mix well. Turn off the stove. If you want to avoid fried stuff, the beef can be eaten like this. It would taste great too.

9. Heat oil in a pan for frying and when the oil is hot, fry the beef in batches.

10. Once the frying is done, in the same oil fry the curry leaves and garnish the beef.

My son loved it so much that I had a tough time taking the picture!