Beef Tehari
Small pieces of beef cooked with aromatic rice, mustard oil and green chillies, Old Dhaka's everyday rice dish.
- prep
- 30 min
- cook
- 1 h 10 min
- total
- 1 h 40 min
- serves
- 5
- level
- medium
Beef tehari is Old Dhaka's everyday rice dish, built on small pieces of beef and mustard oil rather than the ghee and whole mutton of a festive biryani.
It's humbler and sharper-tasting than its fancier cousins, and it's genuinely an everyday lunch dish rather than something saved for special occasions.
Part of our 20 best Bangladeshi recipes list.
method
Marinate the beef pieces with yogurt, half the ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, chile powder and salt for at least 30 minutes.
Heat the mustard oil in a heavy pot, and fry the whole spices until fragrant. Add the sliced onions and cook until golden.
Add the remaining ginger-garlic paste and the marinated beef, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the meat is browned, about 10 minutes.
If using potatoes, add them now and cook for a few minutes, coating them in the spices.
Add enough water to just cover the beef, cover, and simmer over low heat until the beef is nearly tender, about 40 minutes.
Stir in the drained rice and the whole green chiles, then add the remaining water and season with salt.
Bring to a boil, then cover tightly and cook over very low heat for 18 to 20 minutes, until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed.
Let rest, covered, for 10 minutes before fluffing gently and serving.
chef's tips
- Partially cooking the beef before the rice goes in means both finish tender at the same time, since beef takes longer than rice to cook through.
- Tehari is traditionally made with mustard oil rather than ghee, which gives it a sharper, more pungent edge than morog polao or biryani.