Margarita's International Recipes

Bene Israel
Albaras

Baked Layered Beef

Albaras is a very common Bene Israel dish that can be made with lamb, chicken or beef. There are several recipes online, and I would recommend using one of those instead of this one. While the onions and tomatoes were pretty tasty, the beef was impossibly dried. Some other preparations recommend breading the meat with matzo crumbs, which might help keep it moist.


Albaras

Ingredients

    For the Green Masala

  • 1 oz cilantro leaves
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 jalapeno chili, deseeded
  • pinch of salt

    For the Dry Masala

  • 1/2 tsp. red chili flakes
  • 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
  • 1/4 tsp. ground aniseed
  • dash garlic powder
  • dash ground ginger
  • dash groudn turmeric

  • 2 lbs boneless chuck, cut into 3" x 1/2" slices
  • 1 tsp. garam masala
  • oil
  • 2 onions, sliced
  • 3 tomatoes, sliced
  • 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
  • 2 cups peas

Instructions

Make the green masala by pureing together all the ingredients.

Make the dry masala by mixing all its ingredients.

Place beef slices in a bowl and mix in the green masala, dry masala and garam masala. Cover and leave to marinade for 2 hours at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350 F and oil a baking dish. Put half the onions on the bottom of the baking dish, cover with half the tomatoes and half the beef. Repeat with the other half. Sprinkle vinegar over the mixture.

Cover and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Ten minutes before it's done, add the green peas.


Adapted from a recipe in Copeland Marks' Sephardic Cooking

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