originating from west sumatra in indonesia, this braised beef dish is simmered in an elixir of coconut milk, punchy aromatics, and fragrant spices until the concoction has reduced enough to fry itself again. yes, you read that right - the velvety and tender beef that took its sweet time to stew begins to fry itself in its own rendered fat, leaving you with an utterly unctuous and saucy beef that is so flavourful, you’ll want to cry. give yourself an afternoon for this one as it takes about 4 hours from start to finish.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 whole nutmeg
5 cloves
2 large onions or 4-6 small shallots, roughly sliced
4 cloves garlic, roughly sliced
2-inches ginger, roughly sliced
2-inches galangal, roughly sliced
2-inches fresh turmeric, roughly sliced or 1 1/2 tsps. ground turmeric
10 thai red long chilis, stems removed and roughly sliced (if you can’t find these, use 1 seeded red bell pepper with 2 small red bird’s eye chilis)
2 1/2 lbs. beef blade or chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes
500mL coconut milk
1 cinnamon stick
3 lemongrass stalks
8 makrut lime leaves
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. brown or palm sugar
cilantro, chopped, to garnish
fried garlic, to garnish
makrut lime leaves, finely shredded, to garnish
Instructions
Preheat oven to 275 F.
In a spice grinder, pulverize nutmeg and cloves until it becomes a fine powder. If you don’t have a spice grinder, use a blender, food processor or mortar and pestle. You can also find ground versions at the store.
In a blender, combine ingredients from onions to chilis until it becomes a consistent paste. Add powdered spices and blitz a few more times to combine.
Coat beef in aromatic paste in a large dutch oven. Add and stir in ingredients from coconut milk to sugar. Bring to a boil and transfer into the oven, uncovered. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, checking and stirring every 30 minutes. Turn the oven up to 300 F and cook for an additional 30 minutes - 1 hour.
If there is still liquid after the elapsed time, transfer the pot back onto the stove and gently simmer on low until 90% of the liquid has evaporated. You don’t want to rush this on high heat as the beef could get tough and dry. The liquid will turn from vibrant yellow to a dark mustardy brown.
Garnish with chopped cilantro, fried garlic, and shredded makrut lime leaves. Serve with shrimp chips and white rice.