Unakka Irachi Olathiyathu(Dried beef/Beef Jerky Fry)

I’ve had enough of this dish,during my childhood days.I vaguely remember how my grandmother used to dry beef,fish etc at home,when she was healthy and young.Thin slices of beef marinated with salt and turmeric powder, are first dried well under the sun and then hung over the ‘aduppu‘(traditional stove in old Indian Kitchens,which is lit using firewood),where it is again dried in the heat and smoke.The whole process is time consuming and takes almost 3-4 weeks,but the end product was always worth the effort.This dried beef when fried, tasted divine when served with Kanji and Payaru Olathiyathu(Moong Dal Fry).

I’ve been craving for this dish for long,and so decided to give a try with Beef Jerky ,which is available in all local grocery stores.And believe me,it tasted almost similar to our good old Unakka Irachi Olathiyathu.

 So here i’m sharing with you my grandmother’s speciality dish …

Ingredients :–

Dried Beef/Beef Jerky(Unakka Irachi) – 3 slices
Shallots (Kunjulli) sliced half – 5
Dried Red Chillies – 5-6
Curry leaves – a sprig
Coconut Oil – as needed

Method:-

Cut the dried beef into small pieces.Heat little oil in a pan and shallow fry the beef slices until it is brown and crisp.Remove from heat and allow it to cool.To the same pan,add shallots,red chillies and curry leaves and fry for 2-3 minutes in low heat.Remove and keep aside.

Now pound all the ingredients together using a mortar-pestle.But here i’ve used my grinder for this purpose.This can be served with rice/Kanji.

The pounded beef prepared as above, can be again fried ,by adding meat masala,pepper powder etc.But i normally don’t prefer this.For me,it tastes better without these extra frying and masalas.