RECIPE: Pakistani "Old Clothes" Beef Brisket Curry - Pressure Cooker Version

Several years ago, I saved a recipe for Pakistani "Old Clothes" Curry made with beef brisket.  The recipe originated in The Indian Slow Cooker cookbook.  A few weeks ago, someone posted a photo of the recipe on Reddit, and everyone who responded, loved it.  

We don't have a slow cooker, so I modified the recipe to use a pressure cooker.  

I made two other changes:  I toasted the fennel seeds before grinding them, because I don't like raw fennel seeds, and I used tallow (beef fat) instead of vegetable oil. 

When the beef came out of the pressure cooker, the gravy was quite thin.  After shredding the meat we mixed it with some, but not all, of the gravy.  My husband LOVED it that way!  It was subtly spiced and went well with all the other dishes we served.

I did NOT like it that way!  I thought it had very little flavor and tasted too 'meaty'.  The next day, I reduced the remaining gravy until it was thick and rich, stirred in half the remaining meat, and we compared it with the original version.  I loved it!  My husband thought it was too thick and saucy, and it was harder to pair with the other highly seasoned foods.  The photo below, is the thick and saucy version. 

Original recipe: Pakistani "Old Clothes" Curry  

Pakistani "Old Clothes" Beef Brisket Curry

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 medium yellow onions, peeled, cut in half, sliced
• 2 lbs beef brisket, trimmed of fat
• 1 2-inch piece of ginger root, peeled and cut into chunks
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 heaping teaspoon powdered ginger
• 4 green or white cardamom pods (I used green)
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 4-inch cinnamon stick
• 1 T. garam masala (I used Pure Indian Foods brand)
• 2 T. ground fennel (I toasted it first, and then ground it)
• 1 T. ground chili pepper  (I used Kashmiri Chili)
• 2 pinches ground nutmeg
• 1 t. turmeric
• 1 t. kosher salt
• i t. black salt (or substitute kosher salt) - I used black salt
• 1/2 cup tallow, melted
  
• 1 cup water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Place the onions in 4-5 quart pressure cooker (mine was 8 quart)

Set the meat on top.

In a food processor, grind the garlic and ginger to a paste, and spread it on top of the meat.

Add the remaining ingredients and drizzle the tallow over everything.  Close and secure the lid.

Left to right: onions and garlic-ginger paste, spices, tallow

Following the instructions for your pressure cooker, bring the pressure up to "high", reduce the heat to maintain that pressure, and cook for 90 minutes.  

Turn off the heat and allow the pressure to reduce naturally.

Remove the meat to a bowl, cut it AGAINST THE GRAIN into 2-inch pieces, then use two forks to shred the meat.  

You now have two options:

• Return it to the pressure cooker and combine it with the sauce.
• Reduce the sauce until it's thick, then combine it with the shredded meat.   

We served this with basmati rice, Keralan Masoor Dal, and Bangalorean Curried Cabbage.  In the photo below, the leftovers were served with arugula sprouts.