Coppin a Plea!

Spiced Beef & Mashed Potato Sandwich With Lime Raita

I will admit to stealing this sandwich recipe, but I felt justified since the person who posted it is a man who hates sandwiches. He will gladly tell you why if just click here and visit "Eddybles.com". I don't often pull sandwich capers such as this, but the very idea that this fantastic making came from someone who professes to dislike sandwiches to the point of passing on a meal if it's served between two slices of bread seemed so incongruous. A mystery I was determined to solve, but couldn't. I would understand if he'd have posted an ordinary or nasty looking sandwich, but look at what he considers to be a bad meal, it's uncanny! It's a little bit of an ordeal to actually make, but I can assure you, it's well worth the trouble.

Ingrédients
1/8 cup oil with a high smoke point such as peanut or canola, plus additional oil for toasting
4 whole green cardamom pods
4 cloves
2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
2 pounds beef tips, cut into 1 inch pieces
salt, to taste
5 tablespoons coriander, ground
5 tablespoons black pepper, ground
4 inches fresh ginger, cut into pieces
8 cloves garlic
1 quart whole milk yogurt, plus two cups yogurt for raita
5 large potatoes such as Idaho, peeled and cut into pieces
2 teaspoons turmeric
1/4 cup sour cream
2/3 cup cilantro, cleaned and roughly chopped
4 scallions, sliced thinly
8 pieces nann bread
1/8 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
for the spiced beef
Préparation ~ Assemblée
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Pat the beef tips dry with paper toweling and then generously salt the pieces. In a heavy pot, heat oil until it is nearly smoking.
 Add the cardamom, cloves and cumin seeds and bloom the spices until they are toasted and smell fragrant. Add the beef tips to the pot and sear pieces on all sides. Do not move the beef tips around as they sear as this will prevent them from browning properly. The goal is to achieve a rich caramelized brown color. Sear the tips in stages so as to prevent crowding, allowing each piece of beef complete contact with the bottom of the pot. Drain meat on a rack.
2. As the beef sears, puree together in a blender the ground coriander and pepper along with the chopped ginger and garlic cloves to make a thick paste.
3. Once all of the meat is seared, remove it from the pot. Add the spice paste to the pot and gently sweat the paste until fragrant. Add the yogurt to the pot and whisk into the spice paste until thoroughly combined. Return all of the meat to the pot and stir into the yogurt mixture until each piece is thoroughly covered. Over medium low heat, cook the meat for about five minutes until it has tenderized and the yogurt has reduced slightly. Cover the pot and transfer to the oven. At this stage the mixture should resemble a thick stew. Gently braise the meat for about three hours. Stir well every thirty minutes. As it braises the meat will absorb much of the yogurt marinade and the stew will be nearly reduced completely. The beef is ready to be removed from the oven when it is completely tender and falling apart at the touch of a fork. Cool beef thoroughly before assembling sandwiches.
The potatoes4. Meanwhile, as the beef braises, prepare the mashed potatoes. In a heavy bottom pot, add cut potatoes to generously salted cold water. Bring the water to a rolling boil and cook potatoes until they are fork tender. As the potatoes cook, stir together the turmeric and sour cream until thoroughly combined. Drain potatoes and transfer to a large bowl. While potatoes are still hot, add the turmeric sour cream and with a potato masher, mash potatoes until they are smooth. Additional sour cream can be added if necessary but the potatoes should remain on the dry side since they will be used essentially as a paste to hold the sandwich together. Once the potatoes are smooth, stir in the chopped cilantro.
Assemble sandwiches
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Divide one fourth of the turmeric mashed potato mixture between two pieces of nann. Spread potatoes evenly over the two slices of nann. Sprinkle one fourth of the sliced scallions over one portion of the potatoes and on top of the scallions scoop one fourth of the spiced beef and gently spread to distribute evenly and completely. Turn the other slice of nann with mashed potatoes over the spiced beef mixture and press gently but firmly to close the sandwich. Repeat these steps until four sandwiches are assembled.
6. In a large saute pan, heat about two tablespoons of oil until hot. Toast the sandwiches on both sides for approximately a minute per side. Place toasted sandwiches on a baking sheet. Bake sandwiches for about fifteen minutes until they are heated through.
7. As the sandwiches bake, prepare a raita by whisking together two cups of yogurt with the lime juice.
Serve
8. Cut each sandwich into fourths and serve with a portion of the raita to be used for dipping. Makes 4 Sandwiches!