Beef simmered until tender then fried down hard with curry leaves, black pepper and toasted coconut slivers until dark and almost dry. Fiercely peppery.
Prep
20 mins
Cook
1h 30m
Servings
4
Per serving
£2.88
Difficulty
medium
Ularthiyathu means roasted or seared, and the last stage is the whole dish: once the beef is tender you keep frying until the masala stops being a sauce and becomes a dark crust clinging to each piece. It takes longer than you think and you must not rush it.
Toss the beef with the turmeric, ground coriander, Kashmiri chilli, half the crushed pepper, half the ginger, half the garlic and 1.5 tsp of the salt. Leave 20 minutes.
Put the seasoned beef in a heavy pan with 200ml water, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer very gently for 55 to 65 minutes until tender. Uncover and boil off almost all the liquid.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of the coconut oil in a frying pan and toast the coconut slivers for 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown. Tip onto a plate immediately.
Heat the remaining 3 tbsp coconut oil in a large wide pan. Add half the curry leaves and let them crackle, then add the shallots and fry for 12 minutes until deep brown.
Add the remaining garlic, ginger, the slit green chillies and the rest of the crushed pepper and fry for 3 minutes.
Tip in the cooked beef with any remaining juices and the last of the salt. Now start frying properly over a medium-high heat.
Keep frying for 15 to 20 minutes, scraping the base and turning the beef every couple of minutes, until the masala goes from wet to dark and dry and coats every piece.
The dish is not finished until there is no liquid left in the pan at all and the beef has visible dark crust on it.
Stir in the toasted coconut, the garam masala and the remaining curry leaves. Fry 2 minutes more and serve with rice.