Best Beef Chilly Fry....at Leopold Cafe

What food gets you salivating the moment you start thinking about it? For me it has to be the Beef Chilly Fry at Leopold Café. Arguably the best you will ever taste, the beef served here is so tender that it melts in your mouth. The balance of the sauce and the spice is perfect to get you nostalgic with every bite. A perfect accompaniment to this is a portion of garlic bread and a tower of beer (yes a tower...a pint won’t be enough). Adding to this thrilling combination is the ambience at Leopold Café which celebrates the South Mumbai culture of Irani restaurants. The retro interiors, the foreign tourist customers, the elaborate yet pocket friendly menu, the history of the café, altogether makes drinking beer in the afternoon not such a big deal after all. Coming back to the beef, the key is how tender the meat is, which makes you wonder how a tough meat such as beef melts in your mouth. The answer I believe is the quality and cut of the meat (best cut being sirloin or tenderloin), and also a good tenderizer to marinate it over night so that it soaks in the flavor and the result is the juiciest meat. The onion and capsicum are cooked just enough so they are crunchy when you bite them. Like other Indo Chinese dishes the garlic doesn’t over power the flavor. I tried to make it at home several times but couldn’t achieve the same perfection. Even though most of the people I meet are non vegetarians, very few are beef eaters (not the gin). I recommend you start at Leo’s and meat eating will never be the same. I think this dish even beats chicken. I challenge you guys to find a better beef chilly fry in Mumbai. And if you do….please let me know immediately!

For guys who want to try this at home, here is my tribute to the best beef chilly in town, my honest effort to match a legendary dish.

BEEF CHILLY FRY

Ingredients:

Beef	500 gms
Ginger Garlic Paste	50 gms
Garlic (finely chopped)	10 gms
Onions (thin slices)	150 gms
Capsicum (thin slices)	100 gms
Green Chillies (slit straight)	20 gms
Soya Sauce	50 ml
Oyster Sauce	20 ml
Vinegar	10 ml
Oil	100 ml
Crushed Peppercorns	10 gms
Salt	to taste

Method:

1.    Cut the beef into thin strips (like Stroganoff).

2.    Marinate with ginger garlic paste, vinegar, soya sauce, salt and crushed pepper.

3.    Keep marinated beef overnight to tenderize it.

4.    Heat oil in a wok, add the chopped garlic.

5.    Add beef and stir fry.

6.    Halfway through the beef, add the onions, chillies, capsicum and stir fry.

7.    When the beef starts leaving water, remove it from the wok or else all the juices will be out and the meat will end up dry.

8.    Add soya sauce, oyster sauce, salt and crushed pepper to the veggies in the wok and make a dry mix (make sure the veggies remain crunchy, don’t overcook).

9.    Add the beef back to the wok and mix it with the sauce and veggies.

10. Serve hot.

Try this recipe and let me know how it turned out, or if you have a better one please share it with me. Remember Good food doesn't need good recipe, just the love to make it.

How to get to Leo’s? It’s easy…ask anyone…everyone knows where Leo’s is!