Kerala Beef Roast

My all-time favourite curry!

Tender buffalo meat, slow-cooked with local spices, creates an explosion of flavour that’s simply irresistible. Today, I’m excited to share my favourite recipe with you – the traditional Kottayam-style beef ularthiyathu.

As you may know, Kerala is renowned for its rich culinary heritage, infused with spices and coconut in almost every dish. It’s truly the Land of Spices, and often called God’s Own Country. Kerala cuisine is famous for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, and of course, some of the best seafood in the country.

Buffalo meat or beef is usually prepared as a roast or curry here. Grilled versions are uncommon, but beef fry is a beloved choice for many Malayalees. The magic starts with the masala. While you can find ready-made spice powders these days, I highly recommend using freshly ground masalas — that’s the secret behind the authentic taste of Kerala cuisine.

In Kerala, you can enjoy beef roast almost anywhere — from roadside eateries to high-end restaurants. It’s most popularly paired with Kerala porotta, a soft and flaky layered flatbread. And if you’re feeling adventurous, head to a local toddy shop, where you’ll find spicier, more rustic versions of the dish, along with other mouth-watering delicacies.

Now, about this recipe — it’s one of the simplest and quickest ways to prepare traditional beef roast. After marinating the meat, it’s pressure-cooked until tender, then stir-fried with spices and generous slices of coconut. Those coconut slices are what make Kerala-style beef roast truly unique. As mentioned, coconut is an essential ingredient in most Kerala dishes.

So, let’s dive in and enjoy this iconic dish together!

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Kerala Beef Roast

Author: Ushadevi Cooking Method: Roasting Cuisine: Kerala Courses: Curries & Side Dishes

Difficulty: Beginner Prep Time 15 mins Cook Time 30 mins Rest Time 10 mins Total Time 55 mins

Cooking Temp: 100  C

Best Season: Suitable throughout the year, Winter

Ingredients

Scale

1/2x 1x 2x 3x

• 1 kg Buffalo Meat
• 5 Medium Onion (sliced)
• 3 Tomato (sliced)
• 2 Green Chillies (sliced)
• ¹⁄₂ cup Coconut Strips
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon Turmeric powder
• 2 teaspoon Chilly powder
• 1 tablespoon Black pepper
• 4 tablespoon Coriander powder
• 4-5 Star Anise
• 6-7 Clove
• 1 inch Cinnamon
• 6-7 Cardamom
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon Garlic chopped
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon Ginger chopped
• 8 Dry Red Chilies
• 1 spring Curry Leaves
• 1 Salt teaspoon (as required)
• 3 teaspoon Oil

Instructions

1. clean beef well, in a pressure cooker add beef with turmeric powder, chilly powder, coconut stripes, potato and salt .
2. let it be cooked enough in medium flame
3. Let’s prepare masala mix now. In a pan add a spoon coconut oil, now add scraped coconut fry it till almost brown in colour
4. Now we make thick masala paste by grinding fried coconut, red chillies, coriander powder, Meat masala and little water.
5. Heat a pan, add oil, crushed ginger, garlic. saute well. When its raw smell away, add onion, curry leaves and salt
6. when done, add masala paste to the onion mix, saute well.
7. Now we can add beef to the masala. Let it cooked
8. When it’s all mixed well, turn off flame .
9. Beef roast best with Appam , Puttu , Rice or anything you like