Irachipathiri - Stuffed Fried Bread

Irachipathiri's are Malabar(Northern region of Kerala) delicacy with fried bread / roti with stuffed meat mix, either it can be beef, chicken or mutton, beef to be ranked one. 

The method and the shape may have varies from place to place but the basic irachipathiri is always rolled out dough(either its all purpose flour or wheat flour or the combination of both) and then stuffed in with meat mix, edges are sealed and then deep fried. The sealing of an edge can be done in various type. You can do it by your hand as in the picture or just press edges using a fork which is so simple. The one with hands needs a little practice. My mom and aunts are expert in making such beautiful edges. I use to tell them, even no machines can design the edges so perfect as them. Let God protect them from my evil eyes👀.

In this recipe a final coating of egg mix is mentioned which enhances the taste of irachipathiri.. In some places, even the one we gets from shops, this coating is omitted. It is served directly after deep frying them. In some other cases, the coating is with only egg, just break the eggs, whisk the well with fork, coat them in fried irachipathis and cook both sides in ghee. And here i have put my grandma's version of coating the irachipathiri with sweet egg mix. Now you might be like savory irachipathiri with sweet egg coating. But believe me this will take the irachipathiri to another level. All of us in the family loves this sweet savory version. Yum!  Yum! Yum!.

The steps for this common Iftar snack can be seemed as a little lengthy, but worth a try.

Irachipathiri - Stuffed Fried Bread

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 minutes

Ingredients:-

To cook Beef:

Beef  – 200 g (cubed)

Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp

Chili powder – 3/4 tbsp.

Salt

For Masala:

Onions – 4 (medium to large onions), if small size, make it 5

Garlic – 4 crushed

Ginger – 1 to 2 inch crushed

Green chilies – 2 finely chopped

Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp

Garam Masala Powder – ½ tsp

Coriander leaves – ¼ cup

Lime juice - ½ tsp (optional)

For Bread:

All Purpose Flour - 1 1/4 cup

Wheat Flour - 3/4 cup

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt

Luke warm Water to knead

Others:

Egg - 3

Sugar - 6 tbsp

Cardamom - 4 pods (crushed)

Ghee

Preparation

Cooking the Beef

1. Mix the beef with salt, turmeric and chilli powder. In a Preassure cooker, beef mix and cook on medium heat till beef cooks well. If there is excess water in the cooked beef, keep on bit high flame and let all the water gets evaporated.

2. Shred the well cooked beef once cooled and keep aside. You can either use you hand to shred or mortar & pestle or a small grinder, but make sure to use only one or two pulse when grinding, so that the meat won't get minced.

Preparing Masala 

1.In a pan, add onion, saute till it’s translucent, add ginger, garlic, green chillies, and mix well till the raw smell disappears. 

2. Add turmeric powder and Garam Masala, saute for few more seconds.

3. Add shredded beef and lime juice(if using) to this; mix well and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add chopped coriander leaves and stir well. Off the flame.

Preparing Bread / Pathiri / Roti

1. In a bowl,combine together all purpose flour, wheat flour and oil.

2. Mix lukewarm water with enough salt and pour in small portions over the flour mix together with kneading the flour.

3. Knead the flour well to form a smooth and soft dough like chapati dough.

4. Divide the dough into lemon size balls.

5. Roll out all the balls into thin circles. Pathiris are ready.

Stuffing the Bread / Pathiri / Roti

1. Take one pathiri and place some filling on it (about 2 tbsp) in the center, leaving about some space towards the edge.

2. Place another pathiri over the filling and gently press to seal the edges. Fold the edges inwards to form a pleated border.

3. Repeat the same with all the pathiris/ bread / rotis made.

Frying the Stuffed Bread / Pathiri / Roti

1. In frying pan, add oil for deep frying.

2. Once the oil is hot enough, deep fry each stuffed bread one by one till both the sides turns golden.

3. Drain the fried bread's in a kitchen towel.

4. In a bowl, creack the eggs, add in sugar and cardomin and beat well with is fork till the sugar dissolves completely.

5. In a pan, add 1 tbsp of ghee, dip the stuffed and fired bread/pathiri in the egg mix well, and place them in the hot ghee.

6. Shallow fry them flipping on both sides so that the coated eggs gets cooked.

7. Repeat the same for all remaining stuffed pathiris and the irachipathiri's are ready!

Notes:

1. The dough can be made either with all purpose flour or wheat flour or the combination of both. Here i have used combination of both.

2. You can omit the final egg coating and directly server after deep frying.

3. If don't prefer sweetness in egg coating, avoid adding sugar to egg or add very minimal amount.