God alone knows why it is called Irani Pola – a Malabar version of a delicious meat pie…
Even though my blog is intended to be more of Malabar and Emirati recipes, I haven’t been representing both the cuisines as required in the recent past. I have not been testing any new recipes, since it takes time and moreover, my folks have become more picky than I would have liked them to. But since I am already slow in many ways, I am in no hurry and not in a race to outdo anyone. Hehe… I would rather post reliable recipes on the blog, that my readers as well I can come back to and cook whenever I feel like. 🙂
There are a lot of recipes that I discover as a part of being a part of groups with a sufficient Malabar population. As I have mentioned somewhere before, the place I come from doesn’t have a wide variety of food and hence, the knowledge passed from my family down is quite limited. I am trying to find out more and more of forgotten recipes, even though at times the process becomes absolutely stressful. Some of the recipes that I found out that way are Palooda, Mutta Urapichath and Erachi Kinnapathiri, just to name a few. Here is another one into that group…
We have always made athishayapathiri, which is one of umma’s favorite snack to make, despite the difficulty. As soon as I came across this super easy way of making something similar, I was overjoyed. Basically the batter is very similar and even you could make the same filling, but instead of making crepes, you pour the whole thing and layer the meat in between and just let it cook. So much of effort cut down! The batter is a very spongy and thick layer and keeping the meat filling spicy gives it a nice edge, since the batter is like plain crepe. I have used beef to make the filling – it always makes snacks better! – but you can surely use chicken if that is what you have.
I took the easy route and used chicken masala powder, but that was only because I had got a complementary pack and I had to use it. I have mentioned the replacement in the notes section. Since Ramadan is very close – InShaAllah – and all of us want to try easy recipes, then this one should be on the list for sure… If you make the filling in advance, the pie is such a cake walk, literally! Off to the recipe…
Irani Pola | Malabar Meat Pie
Ingredients
- 200 gm boneless meat I used beef
- Salt and pepper to tastes
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp fennel powder
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 onion minced
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 sprig curry leaves minced
- 2 green chillies minced
- 1 tbsp curry powder/ chicken masala powder heaped
- Coriander leaves as needed
- Ghee as needed
FOR BATTER
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 3 eggs large
- 3/4 cup oil
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pressure cook the beef along with the turmeric, red chilli, fennel and seasonings till well cooked. Reserve the stock. Shred the cooked meat.
- In a pan, heat coconut oil. Add the onion, ginger garlic paste, curry leaves and green chillies with some salt and saute till wilted and golden brown.
- Add in the shredded beef, the stock and curry powder and cook till done. Adjust seasoning.
- Blend all ingredients under "for batter" in a blender till smooth.
- Heat a large frying pan and drizzle ghee. Brush the ghee all over the pan.
- Pour half the batter and spread onto the sides. Cook for a couple of minutes on low flame.
- Sprinkle all the masala on top of it. Now pour the rest of the batter over it. Sprinkle the coriander leaves.
- Cook on low flame with closed lid till the bottom is done. Carefully flip and cook the other side as well.
- Switch off, slice into 8 triangles and serve warm with chai!