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Beef fry and a Health Tradition called "Touchings"

Hello People,

Those of you who do not eat beef as part of your diet, tread carefully. Once through with this article, you might wanna start. So if you want to hang on to your dietary shenanigans, this is where you stop reading. You've been duly warned.

A brief side note to put things in perspective. The exemplary Malayali finds it hard to think beyond the beef fry when it comes to "touchings". I would call that "great taste". But then, there is such a thing called tradition, right? These poor guys and girls haven't seen anything else in their lifetime. Their fathers, forefathers and anybody that was worth their lungi only had beef fry as touchings. Anything else was usually treated with disdain. This kind of thing tends to get etched into your psyche. Yup! It’s damaging. For the uninitiated, "touchings" are the side dishes you have when downing peg after peg of alcohol. You have to agree that all of a sudden this got way more interesting. Read on.

Okay, so what makes a killer beef fry? Isn’t that the pressing question of our times? So in my opinion; because I am a bonafide greedy glutton, let me try and explain. By the way, The Millennials call me "foodie". Really? I mean, Is that even a word?

First the visual; How should it look? Dark brownish-black, peppery darkness covers it. It should glisten with coconut oil awesomeness all over because it was flash-fried in all its peppery goodness. The garnish is Green curry leaves; slit green chillies and fresh ginger juliennes tossed in coconut oil, the aroma of which makes your mouth worthy of water sports. A health heap of this in a big bowl for “one” person is what I am talking about; "touchings".

Beef is usually pressure cooked for 35 to 40 minutes to make it tender. The cooked beef is then flash-fried with the required masala. This should render a slightly crisp exterior and a tender inner bite. Perfect!

Traditions have a reason.


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