Beef Payay
A home-style recipe for Beef Payay. Serves 6, ready in about 165 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 beef trotters (paya), cleaned and cut into pieces by the butcher
- ¾ cup oil or ghee
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 2 tbsp payay masala (from a packet, optional)
- 8 cups water
- 3 tbsp wheat flour (atta), mixed with 1 cup water
- 1 tsp garam masala
- To serve: thin strips of ginger and lemon wedges
Missing something?
- No trotters (paya)? Use no good swap, choose a different dish.
- No onion? Use spring onions, or a little onion powder (less depth).
- No wheat flour (atta)? Use maida (plain flour), the result is softer.
Method
- Wash the trotters well. Boil them in plenty of water for 10 minutes, then throw away the water and rinse them. This removes the smell.
- Heat the oil in a large pressure cooker and fry the onions for 10–12 minutes until golden.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste, salt, chilli, turmeric, coriander powder and payay masala and fry for 2 minutes, with a splash of water if it sticks.
- Add the trotters and fry for 5 minutes, stirring to coat them in the masala.
- Add the 8 cups water, close the pressure cooker and cook on low heat for 1½ hours after the first whistle, until the meat falls off the bone and the gravy turns sticky. Let the pressure drop before opening.
- Mix the atta with the water until smooth. Pour it in slowly, stirring all the time, and simmer for 10–15 minutes until the gravy is lightly thick.
- Sprinkle the garam masala. Serve topped with ginger strips and a squeeze of lemon, with naan.
Tip: No pressure cooker, or prefer a lid? Use 12 cups water in step 5 and cook covered on the lowest heat for 4½–5 hours, topping up with hot water if it drops too low; the whole recipe then takes about 5½ hours. Overnight on the lowest heat also works well. Mutton trotters take about 45 minutes after the first whistle (2½–3 hours in a covered pot).