Beef & Kaya (Raw Banana) Ularthiyathu

Sometimes when I tell people that my appa is a pure vegetarian, they ask me whether I’ve considered being a veggie. I’m almost about to say yes, but then at that precise moment, my mind dishes out the picture of deep dark beef fry topped with thengakothu (coconut bites), followed by chemmeen roast (prawns roast) and meen varuthathu (fish fry) and that list goes on. HHmmm, its not worth being a veggie, beef fry is worth more than that ;).

I guess its been more than a year that I posted a beef recipe here. It’s mainly because I’m trying to reduce the quantity of red meat and even if we buy it occasionally, I automatically make beef fry even without considering any other options. So this time when I bought it, I wanted to try something new and ended up with this. Again, this recipe is from my mother in law. It’s a two in one dish, you get veg & non veg all at once. That sounds nice, eh :)?

The recipe can be put in the everyday cooking category. It tastes great with rice or chappathi or even appam. Btw, did I tell you that I’m planning to put together some recipes for everyday cooking. When I put together the recipes together, there has to be many pages, so I guess it can be called a cookery book ;) Any suggestions/ ideas?? Yeah, I want to make a complete menu (breakfast, lunch, tea time snack & dinner) of simple everyday recipes for each day for one month. If you ask me, the biggest challenge in cooking is, to make everyday stuff interesting and healthy. That’s how the whole idea started. Anyways, its still in the planning stage. Let’s see how it goes.

For the time being, we will move on to the recipe, ok?

Here is the recipe:

1. Beef – 1/2 kg
   For Marination:
2. Kashmiri chilly powder – 1 1/2 tsp
   Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
   Coriander powder – 2 tsp
   Garam masala – 1/2 tsp
   Ginger & garlic – 1 tbsp, crushed
   Vinegar – 2 tsp (refer notes)
   Salt
   Curry leaves
3. Kaya (raw banana) – 2 medium – big
4. Small onion (kinjulli) – 1/2 – 3/4 cup, sliced finely
   Ginger & garlic – 1 tbsp, crushed
5. Kashmiri chilly powder – 1 1/2 tsp
   Coriander powder – 2 tsp
   Garam Masala – 1/2 tsp
   Meat Masala – 1/2 tsp (optional)
6. Water – 3/4 cup
   Mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
   Curry leaves
   Coconut oil

Clean the beef and cut into bite size pieces. Marinate it with the ingredients listed under marination. Keep aside for 10 mins or so. Add 3/4 cup water to the marinated beef and cook till its done. Drain the cooked pieces and keep aside the stock. Cut the raw banana in cubes and cook it with salt & water, till its done. Drain the water and keep aside the cooked raw banana.

Heat oil in a pan & splutter the mustard seeds. Add finely sliced small onion, crushed ginger & garlic & curry leaves. Cook for a few minutes. Add the masala powders and fry till the oil starts appearing, a minute or two. Add the cooked beef & banana to this. Mix well. Add the stock of the beef and again mix well. Do a salt test, and add more if necessary. Cover & cook till the beef pieces & banana cubes are coated well with the gravy. Remove from fire.

Notes: Vinegar acts as a meat tenderizer and you can omit it if you wish. The curry tastes better the next day or keep at least a few hours before serving. If the curry tends to dry, add a little bit of water while heating it.

• Meat/Beef Cutlet
• Chicken Sandwich
• Prawns / Shrimp / Chemeen Biriyani
• Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani)

MariasMenu is a popular food blog written by Maria Jose with its no nonsense simple, tasty and delicious recipes – all tried and tested by readers, family and friends alike. Read more about Maria and her venture.