ACHARI BEEF

Few days back, Muslims all over the world celebrated Eid-Ul-Adha, known to be the Eid of Sacrifice. Usually, during Eid, we have extravagant preparations with variety of dishes and food. Somehow, my mood for cooking wasn't showing up at all, to the point that I cooked bhorta-bhaji for lunch on Eid day. But finally on the third day of Eid, I decided to get on with Eid cooking. The reason I picked myself up was interesting too. I was basically randomly surfing YouTube when I stumbled upon Safa Kabir's Achari gosht. Just for people who doesn't know her, she is a Bangladeshi celebrity who sometimes post content on her YouTube channel. I don't know how I got there but what she cooked looked absolutely delish. It looked pretty easy to make as well; easy but definitely attention seeking, not my cup of tea. So, I got up to cook 'Achari Beef'. I will leave the reference link at the end. Just to be clear, achar means pickled in Bengali but we don't really pickle anything, you will know as you read on.

For the achari flavor, panch phoron and jeera (whole cumin) works the best, I can tell that just by the taste, even though I never made achar before. Mustard seeds work well too but since the recipe didn't use it, I kept my wizardry on bay. So first off, in a pot smeared with oil, I added in panch phoron, jeera, and dried chili and roasted them a little. Then I added in onions and cooked them till they turned translucent. Next, I added onion paste, ginger paste, and minced garlic and cooked them for about 4-5 minutes. After adding a little water, I added in turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, and salt and let it cook for another 4-5 minutes. Next went in the tomatoes which were left covered till the tomatoes turned all soft. This was followed by the star element, beef. I stirred and let it fry for about 15 minutes. You have to be very careful in order to prevent burning. This is called Koshano in Bengali which brings out the beautiful aroma of the spices. Next, I added in some whipping cream (I didn't have yogurt as specified in the recipe) and water and let the beef cook completely. I call it attention seeking because the beef takes about an hour or so to cook and I have to visit it almost every 10 minutes so it doesn't burn itself. How scary and needy is that? Finally, right before serving, I added some green chili and left it for another 5 minutes. We had it for two meals, once with kichuri and once with steamed rice. Gosh both tasted so good, and that's coming from someone who isn't a meat-lover. This is definitely a must-try for this Eid.

Ingredients:

2 lbs beef

2 cups chopped onions

4 pcs dried red chili

1 tsp panch phoron

1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp red chili powder

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp onion paste

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 cup chopped tomatoes

4 pcs green chili

0.5 cup whipping cream/yogurt

Reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOctyhA8SU0&t=382s