Easy and hearty Bangladeshi beef tehari/akni. Beef tehari or beef akni is a classic dish popular in parts of Bangladesh. It’s a dish that is composed of rice and beef. The beef is cooked with mainly garam masala spices and yogurt. These spices give the beef a nice pungent flavor and a slight kick of heat. The cooked beef is separated from its gravy and the gravy is used to cook the rice. Once the rice comes to a good boil then the cooked beef is added on top and the cooking process is finished off on a low heat.

More about easy beef tehari/akni

There are a few unique flavors of beef tehari, one which comes from adding in fresh green chilies. These chiles add heat and flavor to the tehari and bring the tehari together beautifully. The other is mustard oil. Traditionally mustard oil is used for extra flavor and spice. Although you can use the every day cooking oil if you find mustard oil to be too strong. I personally prefer mustard oil for beef tehari although for my kiddos I use canola oil and have done so in this recipe too.

I remember eating beef tehari from my childhood where mom would cook this up and the whole house would smell so good and you just knew that there was something yummy coming for lunch or dinner. Super delicious and satisfying. It’s proper Bengali comfort food and this dish really warms you up. The great thing about beef tehari is you could just eat this up by itself. It’s a complete dish in one where you really don’t need to have any other sides with it. Of course a salad goes great with tehari anytime and maybe a few kebabs too.

It’s the perfect dish for family get together’s, special occasions like ‘Eid’ or just a good filling lunch or dinner for the family to enjoy. Making beef tehari might sound daunting but with just a few ingredients and a few steps here you can find My easy way to make Bangladeshi beef tehari/akni.

A few more tips!

To speed the process up you can even use a pressure cooker to cook the beef. Also if you want to prep ahead of time then you can cook the beef a day early and then finish the tehari off the next day with the rice.

Also the meat ratio to rice is a little more so you can adjust that to your preference too. Traditionally kali jeera rice is used when making tehari. Kali jeera rice is a shorter grain of basmati rice which also has a unique flavor and taste. If you can’t get hold of kali jeera rice then basmati rice will always work. Soak the rice in water for 15-20 minutes, this will help to also speed up the cooking process.

Easy Bangladeshi Beef Tehari, Akni Recipe

Recipe by Shema Course: MainCuisine: BangladeshiDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4-6

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

50

minutes

Bangladeshi Beef Tehari Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 cups of soaked basmati rice or kali jeera rice

• 2 pounds or 1 kg of bone in and boneless beef cut into bite size pieces

• 3 teaspoons of salt

• 2 teaspoons of ginger paste

• 2 teaspoons of garlic paste

• 1 cup of plain natural yogurt
  3 teaspoons of garam masala powder

• 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon of ground mace

• 2 bay leaves

• 1/2 cup of oil (can use mustard oil or regular cooking oil)

• 1 large onion or 2 medium sized onions finely sliced

• 8-10 fresh green chilies (can adjust to preference)

• 5 cups of boiled hot water

• 1/2 cup of milk powder

Directions

• Rinse and soak the basmati rice in cold water for 15 minutes
• In a medium sized mixing bowl add in the beef pieces with the ginger/garlic paste, salt, garam masala powder, ground nutmeg, ground mace and plain natural yogurt
• Mix everything up really well making sure everything is well combined. You can use food gloves to mix with your hand or a wooden spoon
• Marinate the beef for 15-20 minutes or even over night in the refrigerator for a stronger flavor
• In a large sauce pot or pressure cooker (if you decide to use one) add in the oil with the onions and bay leaves
• Cook onions on an medium high flame until they turn golden brown
• Add in the marinated beef with some of the green chilies and using a spoon stir everything in well
• Cook the beef on a high flame for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. This process will help to cook the spices and the beef to release some water
• If using a pressure cooker at this point you can cover and lock the pressure cooker following your pressure cooker guidelines and cook the beef for 20-25 minutes until the beef is cooked
• If using a regular sauce pot then you can add 1/2 cup of hot water to the beef, stir and cook the beef covered on a medium low heat for 45-50 minutes stirring occasionally to make sure nothing is burning or sticking to the pot until the beef is cooked (soft and tender) and some of the oil comes to the surface
• Separate the beef from the gravy, leaving the gravy in the sauce pot in which you will be cooking the final tehari in
• To the beef gravy add in 5 cups of hot water (so in this recipe 4 cups of rice so you will need 5 cups of hot water)
• With the flame on medium, add in the milk powder and green chilies
• Stir well and then add in the drained basmati rice
• Turn the flame to high and let the rice and water mixture come to a boil
• At this point lower the flame and add in the cooked beef, stir just to slightly combine the rice and beef
• Cover the sauce pot with a lid and cook for 15-18 minutes on the lowest flame
• After 15-18 minutes turn the flame off and uncover the pot. Gently stir to fold the tehari together
• Serve hot with sides of salad or kebabs
• Enjoy!

Notes

• Any leftovers can be stored in a airtight container and in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Check out more easy beef recipes!

Beef Bhuna, Beef Jali Kebabs, Beef and Potato Curry, Beef Keema Curry