The New Year is always welcomed with wine and cake, but you also need something substantial in your stomach to remain steady on your feet 🙂 My Bacon Wrapped Meat Loaf will provide loads of protein and fat to prepare you for your next trip around the sun. I had seen bacon wrapped dishes and wanted to try one myself. I created this recipe from scratch and a clip from a TV show taught me how to wrap bacon; my daughter came to my aid and did it to perfection.
India banned cow slaughter in 1977, so my husband’s friend used to refer to beef dishes as bull dishes as bull slaughter was (and is) allowed. My family loves the rich flavour of beef and I have been making this biriyani for 4 decades, especially for the Christmas feast. I created a beef biriyani recipe as mutton prices had soared and good mutton was hard to get. I have refined this recipe over the decades and it is now a sumptuous, satisfying, and irresistible treat. I serve it with my Sweet and Sour Brinjal Masala and Thayir Pachadi (Yoghurt and Onion Salad). I have now begun serving this biriyani with a boiled egg as well, as all the restaurants serve biriyani this way and it makes this biriyani extra festive.
Thirunelveli meat curries are always extended with vegetables such as drumsticks, brinjals, broad beans and, of course, potatoes. This is a family recipe my mother used to make with mutton and radish; we used to love the strong flavour. Now I make this with beef instead of mutton as the rich flavour of beef blends better with radish. I have also simplified the recipe extensively, using a pressure cooker to cook all the ingredients in one shot. I use white radish because that is freely available in Chennai, but in Thirunelveli, my mother used pink radish. This curry is usually served with rice and chappatis.
Beef and Radish Curry
When I was leafing through the book Cuisine from Coorg, I was intrigued to see a different combination of spices in the making of Yarchi Pulav (yarchi means meat in Coorg). The method of making this pulav was in the traditional way of straining the rice when three-fourths cooked, then adding to the gravy for further cooking. I feel that this method is very tedious especially when you do not have a very large kitchen. Therefore I changed the cooking method to boiling the gravy and water, and then adding the rice to it. In this way, you shorten the cooking time and avoid a mess in the kitchen. I have used spice powders because they are easily available now. I have also introduced curds to marinate the meat to tenderise it. This has made this recipe much easier to prepare.
Yarchi Pulav (Beef/Mutton Pulav)
January and February are the months when the markets in Tamil Nadu receive the freshest of the so-called English Vegetables. As a child I used to look forward to these months when we used to have peas and cauliflower very often in the menus. The peas are luscious and the cauliflower is so creamy white and crisp. In Palayamkottai (my hometown) Rich Peas Pulav and Muttai Cauliflower used to be prepared every week. My mother had a collection of recipes using these vegetables. One of the favourites was meat cooked along with peas, cauliflower, and, of course, potatoes that are always combined with meat.
Meat and Vegetable Fry
I always wanted to make a nourishing one-pot meal that could be prepared easily and provide a family with protein, energy, and vegetables. Potatoes and carrots complement the flavour of beef, and I developed this curry to use a minimum of spices and braised the beef to improve the flavour. I have also used celery salt in this recipe. Celery salt and braising are both unusual in Tamil cooking, but they give this dish an enticing aroma and mouth-watering flavour.
Kala’s Braised Beef Curry
In Tamil cooking vinegar is hardly ever used. It may find its way into a few pickles, but even that is very rare. That is why this recipe is honoured with kaadi (vinegar) in the title. My uncle was in the Indian Air Force, and posted in the North during his service. He used to bring his family in summer to visit the relatives in Thirunelveli, and on the way, they used to make a halt in Chennai and stay a few days with us. In those days, the most convenient train was the Janata Express, which though called express, always came a day late. Therefore, for this journey, my aunt used to make chappatis and this vinegar fry which would keep easily for 2 days without refrigeration.
Kari Kaadi Poriyal (Vinegared Meat Fry)
I discovered a ‘Carpetbag Steak’ recipe when browsing through an old cookbook from my personal library. I was fascinated by the concept of stuffing steaks or fillets and skewering or suturing them with cotton thread before grilling or broiling. But the stuffing that is used in these recipes is not the norm in Tamil kitchens, because we do not combine meat with shellfish (mussels or oysters). So, I use a spicy vegetarian stuffing to add flavour to the carpetbag meat.
Carpetbag Meat
Happy Easter everyone! Here is a special meatball curry to help you break your Lenten fast (if you’ve been fasting). This is such an ancient recipe it might as well have come from the Biblical age. I have never seen my mother or my aunt prepare this. I discovered it during an archaeological dig into an old family recipe book with a pencilled inscription saying ‘Aatha’ which would indicate that it is from my great grandmother who was from Thanjavur. Any history beyond that is shrouded in the mists of time 🙂
Urundaikkari Vellai Kuzhambu (Meatballs in White Gravy)
Christmas is the time when people gorge themselves on high protein and high energy food from Advent to New Year. I made these mince packets so that they could be served to guests, and if you are in the habit of receiving carolers hot and spicy mince packets are sure to be welcome.
Hot and Spicy Mince Packets – a Christmas treat 🙂
Kala's Kalai 