Nadan Beef Curry is Kerala comfort food doing what it does best: beef, coconut milk, curry leaves and spices slowly getting acquainted in a pot. Unlike the darker, drier beef roasts, this one stays gloriously gravy-forward, with potatoes soaking up all that beefy, coconutty goodness along the way. A final tempering of shallots, mustard, fennel and curry leaves provides the customary Kerala fireworks. There is also a sneaky spoonful of coconut powder for extra body, a trick I picked up from a Mallu friend and have absolutely no intention of giving back. Best eaten with appam, rice or anything capable of soaking up an unreasonable amount of gravy.

Few dishes are as rewarding as a well made Kerala beef roast, especially when the meat is given the time it deserves. This version takes a slightly longer route: the beef is first slow-braised until tender, then cut into chunks and roasted again with deeply caramelised onions, coconut oil, curry leaves, pepper and spices. The result is dark, intensely savoury and just a little bit sticky, with the braising liquid doing double duty as the secret weapon in the final masala. It is not exactly a quick dinner, but then again, good beef has never been particularly interested in your schedule.

There is something very satisfying about a good thattukada curry. Nothing fancy, just beef, onions, spices and enough coconut oil to make everything behave properly. The spices are ground together rather than added separately, which gives the curry a deep, rounded flavour as they cook down with the onions and beef. The final result is thick, spicy and gloriously messy, exactly what you want alongside a flaky parotta or a pile of puttu.