Pithali: Jamalpur Beef Stew Thickened with Rice Flour

Steps

1. 1Marinate the beef with pastes and whole spices

   Wash the beef and drain it well, shaking off as much water as you can. Put it in a large bowl with the chopped onion, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander and chili pastes, the turmeric, green chilies, bay leaves, both cardamoms, the cinnamon and salt. Work everything together with your hand until every piece of meat is coated. Leave it for about 30 minutes; it is ready when the beef is evenly stained deep yellow-orange and the onion has softened slightly in the paste.

   Everything goes into the marinade

   The onion and the whole spices go in with the pastes now, not into the oil later. They soften and flavor the meat from the start, and the cinnamon and cardamom stay in the pot through to the bowl.

2. 2Fry the beef in oil

   Heat the cup of soybean oil in the heavy pot. Add the beef with all its marinade and stir it through the oil. Keep frying and stirring, scraping the bottom, as the liquid from the meat and paste cooks away. Move on when the moisture is gone, the oil separates and pools at the edges, and the meat and paste have turned a deep brown.

   Hot oil

   A full cup of oil spits when wet marinade hits it. Lower the meat in rather than dropping it, and keep your face back from the pot while the moisture cooks off.

3. 3Add water and simmer until tender

   Pour in the 6¼ cups (1.5 L) of water and stir up anything stuck to the bottom. Bring it to a simmer, cover, and let it bubble gently. Check the meat from time to time and stir so nothing catches. The beef is done when a piece pressed with a finger falls apart along its fibers; stewing cuts take far longer than a short simmer, so go by the meat, not the clock.

4. 4Thicken with rice flour

   Keep the pot at a gentle simmer and add the rice flour a little at a time, straight into the broth. Stir constantly as it goes in, and scrape the bottom and corners so the flour does not settle and scorch. Lower the heat if it starts to stick. Once all the flour is in, keep stirring and cook about 10 minutes more, until the gravy falls heavily and slowly from the spoon like thick porridge.

   Slow flour, moving spoon

   Lumps form when flour lands in one spot and sits. Sprinkle it across the surface and never stop stirring. If lumps appear anyway, whisk the remaining flour into a little cold water and stir that in instead.

5. 5Take the pot off the heat and make the tempering

   Lift the stew off the heat and set it aside. In the small pan, heat a little oil and add the chopped garlic and onion with the ½ tsp each of cumin and fenugreek seeds. Fry, stirring, so nothing sits too long against the pan. Stop when the garlic and onion are light brown and the seeds smell toasted.

   Watch the fenugreek

   Fenugreek turns from toasty to harsh quickly. Pull the pan as soon as the garlic and onion are pale brown; dark garlic and burnt seeds make the whole pot bitter.

6. 6Stir the tempering into the stew and season

   Pour the hot tempering, oil and all, over the stew; it will sizzle and steam. Stir it through the gravy. Taste and adjust the salt now, because the tempering changes how the pot tastes. It is ready when the oil and browned bits are spread through a thick, glossy brown gravy.