Beef Vindaloo

Here is the Kochi Style Vindaloo - to be frank I'm not familiar with any other Kerala cusines like Kuttanad, Malabar, Trivandrum etc.  As far as I can trace my family roots, all my Grannys and their Great Great Grannys are from Cochin and so is my better half's. A bit unlucky that way, not to have had a peek into the multitude of Kerala cusines. But now thanks to blogging, I'm getting to know many new ways!!!

I have a craving for extremely spicy dishes and Vindaloo, which needs loads of chilli, goes hand in hand with this obsession. Got the recipe from my Aunt, she makes the best vindaloo in our family!  According to her, Vindaloo has dominant garlic and mustard flavours with a red tint. Hence the red chillies are de-seeded and used - this allows employing more of them to enhance the red tint and de-seeding keeps the spice level under check.

You will need...

Beef - 1 kg diced

Mustard seeds - 1 1/2 tbsp

Whole Red Chillies - 12 - 15 deseeded

Vinegar(Distilled Malt Vinegar) - 3-4  tbsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp

Onion - 1 sliced

Curry leaves - few

Oil

Grind together:

Green Chillies - 3-4

Onions - 2

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Garlic - 1 1/2 pod

Grind all these together into a coarse paste.

Directions:

Grind mustard seeds and keep aside. Deseed chillies, grind it into a smooth paste with vinegar and keep aside.  In a thick bottomed vessel or pressure cooker heat oil, saute the sliced onions until golden.  Add the ground onion mixture and saute until oil seperates. This might take some time, so be patient. Add the garam masala powder, turmeric powder, ground chilli paste, mustard powder, curry leaves and saute for further 3-4 minutes. Add meat, salt, 1 tbsp vinegar and pressure cook as much you normally do for beef(cooking time varies depending on pressure cooker).  Once done open and saute in high flame until gravy thickens. Serve hot with rice/roti.

Note: 

-The recipe calls for beef fillets or meduim slices. I used diced beef and did'nt find much of a difference.

-To deseed the chillies, slit the chillies lengthwise and tap off the seeds.  If you do not have whole chillies you can use chilli powder instead.  Soak it in vinegar.

-You can adjust the vinegar and chilli amount to suit your liking. 
-Can substitute beef with any meat of your choice.


And now Award time again. Fathima of Thattukada has shared three lovely Awards with me!!! Wow!!! Three at one go!!! Thanks a ton Fathima!!!

I would like to share these three Awards with all my blogger friends. All of you my wonderful, inspiring, creative blogger friends please accept your Awards...