"Norsha Paa" (Beef with dried fiddlehead ferns)

"Paa" refers to meat dish cooked with vegetables and chillies (both fresh and dried).  It is more a stew served with little gravy. The meat is always cut bigger or longer in size and it is cooked mostly with vegetables like radish, spinach, cabbage, potatoes, fiddlehead ferns, dried Aubergine, and dried turnip leaves or just with lots of chillies.

The varieties of meat commonly used for "Paa" are beef (Nor-sha), pork (Phag-sha), dried yak meat ( Yaksha kam), dried beef (Sha-kam) and dried pork (Si-kam).

Since i had lots of re-hydrated dried fiddlehead ferns, i decided to try Norsha Paa. The combination of beef with fiddlehead ferns is a big hit :). Using pressure cooker this time to kill the meat :P.

Got myself Beef meant for long cooking, but this time with a bit of fat on it :). On my quest to cook bhutanese Paa, i have managed to spoil a lot of expensive cuts/steaks  :(, not meant for long cooking, they turn tough and chewy (talking through experience).

What i used;

530 gr. Beef

200 ml Water

1 tomato

1 chilli pepper (more or less as desired)

1 +2 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp oil

200 gr. re-hydrated ferns (soaked overnight in cold water, rinsed thoroughly to remove dirt/grit and cooked (covered) for half an hour with water until ferns were tender)

Preparation;

1. Rinse the beef, pat dry and cut into slices as shown in the picture. Transfer into a pressure cooker, add water and 2 tbsp soya sauce, pressure cook for 20-25 mins (didn't count the whistles). Turn off flame and wait till all the pressure from the pressure cooker is released/out (to be able to open the lid).

2. In the meantime, rinse the tomato and chilli.  Cut tomato into slices and half the chilli lengthwise. 

3. Add tomato, chilli, ferns, 1 tbsp soya sauce and oil, cover and cook (not pressure cook) for 5 more minutes, toss gently in between.

4. Reduce flame to low and simmer for 3 minutes while tossing. Adjust the seasoning (salt) and serve with rice.

Tip# No pressure cooker? Cook the meat in a normal pot until the meat is tender, might take around 45 minutes approx..

this is ME :)

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