Old Dhaka Beef Tehari

Ingredients

• 1 kg Beef, chuck or brisket — Cut small — 2cm cubes, bone-in pieces welcome
• 750 g Chinigura rice — Basmati works; the aroma is different
• 150 ml Mustard oil — Non-negotiable — this is what makes it tehari
• 300 g Onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp Ginger paste
• 2 tbsp Garlic paste
• 10 whole Green chilli
• 150 g Yoghurt — Sour, not sweet
• 2 tbsp Tehari masala — Or garam masala + a pinch of nutmeg

Method

1. 1

   Marinate the beef

   Mix the beef with yoghurt, ginger, garlic, half the masala, and a heavy pinch of salt. Leave it at least 40 minutes — overnight in the fridge is better. The yoghurt is doing the tenderising, so do not rush this.

2. 2

   Heat the mustard oil properly

   Heat the mustard oil until it just begins to smoke, then take it off the heat for 30 seconds. Raw mustard oil is bitter; heating it past smoking point removes that. This step is the difference between good tehari and flat tehari.

4 more steps in the full recipe.

Reviews (1)

• The tehari finally tasted like Nazira Bazar

  I have tried four tehari recipes and they all came out like yellow rice with beef in it. The mustard oil step is the thing nobody else explains. Made it twice in a week.

  Nusrat Jahan · 11 Aug 2026