Name: East Indian Beef Tongue Roast
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 85 min
Ingredients: 1 Beef Tongue; 1.5 tbsp Salt; 80 ml Lemon Juice (If using sour limes reduce the quantity to 60 ml. ); 10 flakes Garlic; 4 Kashmiri Chillies; 2 sticks Cinnamon; 1 tbsp Peppercorns; 50 g Raisins; 50 g Cashewnuts; 4 Onions (Medium); 2 tbsp Ghee (Indian clarified butter) (or Clarified Butter)

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The beef tongue roast is a tasty dish that’s popular in East Indian culture! Taking about an hour to make, this offal dish using simple ingredients is easy to make and tastes delicious.

One of my favorite East Indian foods at any time of the year is tongue. Tongue roast, salted tongue, tongue moile, pickled tongue, tongue this and tongue that. Now many people in other cultures consider tongue offal and discard it. But in my culture, beef tongue is relished and served at family gatherings or parties. Tongue roast or salted tongue slices also disappears quite quickly because it tastes yum!

Note: I have to specify here that we can no longer eat cow tongue anymore as it’s been banned in the state of Maharashtra, India. Cue the ox! Ox tongue has become the standard go-to for salted tongue or other East Indian beef tongue dishes in Mumbai. But if you’re making this recipe in another country using cow’s tongue, it’s the same method.

This dish itself lends itself to a variety of ingredients and a variety of ways of making it once the tongue has been marinated. But those are recipes for another day. For today, let’s look at how to make the traditional East Indian tongue roast using ox tongue or beef tongue for dinner.

Ingredients for the Beef Tongue Roast

Ingredients:
1 large beef tongue – approximately 1.25 to 1.5 kg depending on the size
juice of 2 sourlimes (or lemons)
1.5 tablespoon salt
10 flakes garlic
4 kashmiri chillies
2 sticks cinnamon
1 tablespoon peppercorns
50 grams raisins
50 grams cashewnuts
2 large red onions or 4 medium onions
2 tablespoons ghee (indian clarified butter)

Note: If you’re using small tongues weighing circa 600 to 800 grams each, use 2.

Buy the tongue pre-skinned since skinning it without losing the flesh takes a bit of a learning curve. Or if you want to, try taking a sharp knife, hold the tongue vertically, create a slit in the skin and take off strips at a time. I’ve found it easier to just let the butcher do it. He’s a lot more experienced.

How to make Beef Tongue Roast?

Start by chopping the onions and garlic fine, and breaking the cashewnuts into small bits. Check the raisins for any stray seeds and get rid of them.

Sliced onions and garlic on chopping boards. — Cut the onions and garlic fine

Raisins and cashews in a white plate. — Cashews and Raisins

Wash your tongue, salt it and keep aside. No, not your tongue! The tongue you’re cooking!

Put the ghee in a pressure cooker. Add the chopped onions and chopped garlic, along with the kashmiri chillies, and cinnamon sticks, and fry well.

Dried red chillies and cinnamon sticks. — Dried red chillies and cinnamon sticks

Ghee in a steel vessel. — Heat ghee in a vessel

Onions, red chillies and cinnamon sticks in a vessel. — Fry the onions, chillies, and cinnamon sticks in ghee

Add the raisins, cashewnuts, sour lime or lemon juice, and tongue to the pressure cooker and cover with water. Once the cooker reaches full pressure, cook for about 45 minutes. We use a 4.5 litre cooker, so we can fit in 2 tongues at a time. Please gauge the water level according to the size of your cooker.

Onions, red chillies, raisins and cashews in a vessel. — Add the cashews and raisins

Tongue roast and masala after being removed from the cooker. — Cook the tongue and masala in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes

Sliced beef tongue on a chopping board. — Cut the tongue into slices before adding back to the cooker

Once cooked, let the tongue cool down, cut into slices and add it back to the cooker. This time cook it in the gravy without the lid till the gravy reduces. And your gluten free beef tongue roast is ready to serve!

A vessel with tongue, onions, red chillies. — Add in the tongue and cook

Ox tongue roast with red chillies. — Ox or Beef Tongue Roast

Top view of beef tongue roast in a black vessel. — Tasty beef tongue roast

Beef tongue roast in a vessel with spices. — Beef tongue roast

There are variants of this ox tongue recipe that use turmeric, or bottle masala, or ginger paste. Every East Indian family will do something different. How does your family do it?

Tips for making the Beef Tongue Roast

Use butter or olive oil if you don’t have ghee.
Use 4 medium red onions or 2 large red onions.
Increase or reduce the quantity of spices to your liking.
You can use vinegar in place of the sour lime juice or lime.

Other East Indian Recipes to Try

You can print off the list of ingredients and instructions to follow for making this recipe via the recipe card below (for home use only).

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