Kerala Beef fry

First off let me tell you, this is my version of the Kerala Nadan style beef fry. This is not an authentic recipe, but is simple and tastes great.

Ingredients:

• Stew beef - 400 grams, cut into bite size pieces
• Onion - 1, chopped 
• Garlic - 3 -4 cloves grated
• Ginger - 1/2 inch piece, grated (Or, use 1 tblspn ginger garlic paste)
• Salt - 1tspn
• Coriander powder - 2 tspn
• Turmeric powder - 1 tspn
• Chilli powder - 1 tspn or to taste
• Garam masala Powder - 1 1/2 tblspn
•  Grated coconut - fresh/ dry, 1 handful, I used dry
• Vinegar - 2 tspn
• Water - 2 tblspn
• Black Pepper powder - 1tspn or to taste
• Coconut oil - 1tsp
• Reular cooking oil of your choice - 1 tblspn
• Curry leaves or Coriander leaves

Steps:

• In a small pressure cooker, add little cooking oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
• Then add, half of the chopped onion, grated ginger and garlic, coriander powder, chilli powder, salt, turmeric powder, garam masala,vinegar and the grated coconut. Mix well with a spoon.
• Add the meat and water and mix well, so that all the pieces are coated with  the spice mix.
• Close the pressure cooker and cook till meat is done (I cooked for 20 to 25 mins.  First 10 mins on high and then on medium heat). 

Note: Since its a dry dish, we are using only 2 tbln of water. So, it will catch on the bottom of your pressure cooker. It all adds to the flavour of the dish, if you want to avoid this, you can add more water. If there is any water left, after pressure cooking, boil till the water evaporates.

•  Heat oil in a pan/wok and saute the rest of the onions, till it becomes golden brown. Add the cooked beef, curry leaves and pepper powder and more salt if needed. Mix well and drizzle coconut oil, stir until well roasted.

Home made Mediterranean Burgers

I decided to make my own burger patties after watching an Ad on TV. So I searched the Internet for recipes  and combined ideas from each and here is the result. 

Ingredients:

• Ground (minced) beef : 500 gms
• Egg -1
• Garlic cloves - 3, finely chopped
• Onion - 1/2 finely chopped
• Green chilli - 3 finely chopped. (You can remove the seeds if you don't like too much heat)
• Mint leaves - 2 strands, finely chop the leaves alone
• Bread crumbs - made from 1 slice of bread, recipe here
• Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
• Black pepper powder - 1 tsp
• Sun dried tomato in oil - 1 finely chopped  (optional)

Steps:

• Beat egg with salt and pepper.
• Add rest of the ingredients and combine well. Punch, squeeze and run your fingers through the mixture till the meat is smooth and combined. 
• Take a handful of the mixture, make a ball and then flatten it. Make a small depression in the middle, not too deep tough just a little with your thumb. This will make sure that the patties stay flat when its cooking.
• Keep the patties on a separate piece of parchment paper or aluminium foil. It will be easy to flip them on to the grill.
• Light the grill and when it reaches 400 F, spray oil on the grill and place the patties and close the grill.
• Cook for 10- 12 mins closed. Then flip them, close and cook again for another 10 to 12 mins.
• If you like cheese, place a slice of your favourite cheese on top and close. Turn off heat. Open after a minute. 
• Your done. Use condiments and topping of your choice.

For those without a grill, use a flat pan or a grill pan to make it on the stove top.

Condiments and topping suggestions:

• Lettuce
•  Tomato slice
• Mayonnaise
• Mustard
• Tomato ketchup
• Hot sauce