Beef Ularthiyathu is a traditional Kerala style beef roast prepared by slow roasting tender chunks of beef in aromatic spices, coconut slices,
I’m a true blue Malayalee who loves her Kerala Porotta and Beef Roast. I have been wanting to share this beautiful recipe with y’all for years but never got a chance around it. The so-called Beef Ban didn’t help too.
However, now that I’m here in the land of spices, I know I shouldn’t delay in bringing this to you. Because it isn’t really a crime having beef in this state. You can find beef dishes in almost all nook and corner of this land – from roadside hotels to luxury ones!
Beef is best savored as curry or roast (Ularthiyathu) in Kerala. The traditional beef roast calls for slow cooking the meat in spices in an iron kadhai. But home-cooking means par-cooking the beef first in a pressure cooker before roasting in a thick cast iron or earthen pan.
This preparation is so close to my heart because it is my Dad’s secret recipe. Oh yeah. I prepared this with Dad in the kitchen; my contribution limited to prep work alone. Even after all these years, I still look at him in awe as he whips out yummilicious non-vegetarian dishes in the kitchen. Mum and Dad are excellent at cooking and I owe everything I know about food to them.
Kottayam Style Beef Ularthiyathu
Kottayam, my hometown is a district in earlier Central Travancore. I can vouch for the traditional preparation of this Beef Roast in Kottayam, especially at Christian weddings – Ah, nothing can beat the taste, aroma, and flavor!
| Check out Kerala Style Chicken Roast Recipe here
A typical Syrian Christian dish, Kerala Beef Ularthiyathu is a constant in restaurant menus. Best paired with flaky Kerala Porotta, you can also serve it as a side dish to rice.
Here’s how you prepare Beef Ularthiyathu:
Chop the meat into bite-sized pieces. Wash and clean well. Cook the meat in a pressure cooker along with spice powders like turmeric, chili,
Fry separately the finely chopped onion, shallots, ginger, garlic, coconut bits,
Cook the meat in a kadai until dry. Add the fried ingredients and mix well. Garnish with fried curry leaves and serve hot with Kerala Porotta or rice.
Beef Ularthiyathu | Beef Roast
Ingredients
- 1/2kg Beef, cut into bite-sized chunks
To Cook the Meat:
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder,
- 1.5tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1/2 tbsp Chili powder
- 1/2 tbsp Pepper powder
- 1/2 tbsp Garam masala powder
- Salt, to taste
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup Water
Second batch of ingredients:
- 1/8 cup oil
- 2 Onion, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup shallots, sliced in roundels
- 5-6 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Ginger, finely chopped
- 3-4 sprigs of Curry leaves,
- 1/4 cup Coconut bits
Instructions
- Wash and clean the meat.
- In a pressure cooker, add the chopped meat along with the ingredients mentioned above-turmeric, chili, Kashmiri chili, pepper, and garam masala.
- Add salt and only a quarter to half cup water.
- Cook for about four to five whistles. Remove and let it cool down.
- n a deep pan or kadhai, add oil.
- Fry separately the finely chopped onion, shallots, ginger, garlic, coconut bits, and curry leaves. Remove.
- Add the cooked meat and water from the pressure cooker and cook until dry.
- Add the fried ingredients and mix well.
- Garnish with a fried curry leaves and bits of coconut and serve hot with Kerala Porotta or rice.
That’s all for now!
Do you eat red meat? Have you had this Kerala Style Beef Roast? Let me know.
I hope you’ll drop by tomorrow too.
My theme for the A to Z Challenge this year is ’26 Kerala Dishes that have my heart’, where I would share a multitude of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes from the Spice Capital of the World- Kerala!
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Dear Shalini,
I’m not Indian but I would rather eat (South) Indian food than anything! I cook Indian food frequently and have every spice you mentioned plus many others, such as hing. I have a curry plant growing on my windowsill so I always have access to the leaves! They are hard to find fresh in South Florida, where I live.
Thank you for this recipe — I don’t have any beef but I have lamb chunks in my freezer and will make this with lamb tonight. I, too, look forward to some chettinad recipes.
best regards and stay safe.
Thanks, Rayna. I am glad to know that you love Indian foods and I’ll definitely put up more Chettinad recipes. I hope the mutton turned out well?
I don’t eat beef but my cousins do, and they rave endlessly about this dish. Now looking at the images & the recipe I can see why. 😀
This is not a dish I’ve had before but it looks and sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing your secret recipe. I’ll be giving it a try.
What can I say! This is called the first love and true love for a malayalee. Nothing tops beef ularthiyathu.
The boys at home love beef and I like it too. Will share the recipe with the husband and hope he makes it at home one of these days. Thanks for the recipe, Shalini!
Nice recipe. Will try soon.
This looks yum. My family prefers chicken to meat. I will try it with chicken. Great recipe.
The busband being from Kottayam, this is a favourite. He also makes it excellently.
Oh how much I love beef ularthiyathu. The spices, the coconut – man, I’m salivating now!
Loved the images you have used, Shalini. They looks stunning, great job.
This is an iconic dish from Kerala. I don’t eat beef but I’ve heard a lot of people praise this recipe.
had it just last week… absolutely love it. This and the calicut style beef dry fry (bdf)
Looks yummy! in Bengali also we have a bread called “Parota”. It is in between chapati and a puri. I am guessing Kerala Parotta is something like that. Someday if I visit Kerala, I am going to try this dish. I am sure this can be made with mutton also. Thank you for sharing.
I hope the chettinad chops are coming too. And, love you just made me super hungry.