Corned Beef Chilli Masala Dosa

WELCOME TO JANUARY 2021 and it's the middle of summer in Sydney. We are extremely lucky in Sydney to have a better summer this year, which had a dry start for the season but wetter than average. Thanks to the many downpours this summer, Sydney is looking lush and green. My garden has been the greenest this summer than many past summers due to a cooler summer. A cool summer morning calls for a rather delicious but slightly unusual spicy breakfast filling recipe called 'Corned Beef Chilli'. I have paired this filling with Masala Dosa but it is great with poories (a type of deep fried Indian bread).

This is my first spicy breakfast recipe ever. Even the use of the main ingredient is uniquely different for a breakfast recipe, but it's the change we need if we keep in mind one new aspect that has emerged as a conquence of the pandemic "eating in is the new eating out". This recipe fits the bill perfectly if you like corned beef.

If you are ever wondering what to do with that little bit of left over Bafat Powder in the corner of your pantry, check out this silverside Corned Beef recipe and see how this left over Bafat Powder transforms your breakfast, lunch or dinner into a classic dish.

What is Corned Beef?

It is a cut of beef (brisket) that comes from the breast or lower chest that has been cured or pickled in a seasoned brine. It is a fattier cut than a silverside cut.

So, what is silverside? It is a lean cut of beef which is just above the leg and has very little marbling. It is called silverside because it has a silvery tissue covering one side of the joint. In Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, silverside is the cut of choice for making Corned Beef.

In this recipe, I have used the corned silverside.

Eating corned silverside is an acquired taste and not everyone likes this cut of beef. I have loved it since the time I ate it for the first time when I was in junior school.

Corned Beef was not available in my hometown where I grew. In fact, we would be lucky if we got a cut of boneless beef, as beef was also not freely available even in the 80s or 90s and for that matter even as of today. Our butcher would home deliver some boneless beef once a month as the butchers in Udupi never sold beef. If we needed beef, we would have to get frozen beef from some of the local bakeries owned by Christians. Why is beef not available in India? The reason being, 20 out of 29 states in India have various laws regulating act of slaughtered cow, prohibiting the slaughter or sale of cows. Although Hinduism does not require a vegetarian diet, some Hindus do not eat meat because they consider cow to be a sacred symbol of life (not God) that should be protected. In the oldest of the Hindu scriptures, the cow is associated with Aditi, the mother of all Gods.

As for me, the only time I got Corned Beef was when my cousin sister went to France on work and she would bring a whole basket of canned products for my grandmother. Among these canned products, there were always a couple of cans of Corned Beef. My mother used to slice the corned beef thinly and make a dressing of some kind and we would eat it with this dressing. We would also take a small slice of it and eat it by itself, if there was no dressing. Due to the high salt content, occasionally, we would also eat it in between slices of buttered bread.

When I came to Australia, I was keen to cook corned beef and therefore bought a whole piece of uncooked pickled corned beef. I have cooked it in a slow cooker and also on the stove top. The results were brilliant both in the slow cooker and stove top.

In this post, I would like to share a corned beef recipe that I bought from my local supermarket. Thanks to my friend who inspired me with her simple Indian recipe when she was down in Australia a few years ago. If you do not wish to cook Corned Beef from scratch, you may use canned Corned Beef to prepare this recipe (see Notes below). For those living in Sydney, please check your local Woolworths Supermarket meat section if you are interested in trying out this recipe and wish to buy a cooked piece of corned beef. You will find this cut in the smoked goods section next to the raw meat section.

This recipe uses simple ingredients and tastes lovely. As this beef is cooked before using in this recipe, the texture is already tender and does not require further cooking. The key to this tasty recipe is to dice the corned beef so it absorbs the flavours of bafat powder as it is simmering.

It is delicious served with Masala Dosa or poories for breakfast, lunch or dinner. My son who usually does not like Corned Beef, enjoys it with Masala Dosa and poories. No more stale bafat powder in my pantry anymore!