beef rendang (indonesian / malaysian coconut beef)

This is a big YES! One of the best beef dishes I know. Just a warning that if you use a cheap, lean beef roast, this might take three to five hours of simmering to become “fork-tender”. The beef was tough after being simmered for only an hour, so I gave it another two hours, and it started to really soften up like brisket. If your meat is lean, try doing this in your slow-cooker. (I don’t own a slow cooker, so I just used a big dutch oven style pot, and it was fine!)

Spice Paste:
3/4 cup grated coconut (I used less, because I used a thicker style of coconut strip instead of a grated coconut)
15 dried chillies (I used about eight and I’d definitely 100% recommend a few more. 15 probably sounds right.)
10 shallots, sliced (I used one. Shallots are expensive.)
4 cloves garlic, sliced (I used five or six to compensate for less shallots.)
1 inch ginger (20 g), sliced
1 inch galangal (20 g), sliced (I omitted this)
1 inch turmeric (10 g), sliced
2 stalks lemon grass, sliced (I used dried old lemongrass and the flavor was not strong.)
4-6 bird chillies, optional

chunk of beef, 1-1.5lb., sliced into one or two inch chunks

1 stick cinnamon, about 2-inch length
3 cloves
3 star anise
3 cardamom pods
tamarind paste or pulp
6 finely sliced kaffir lime leaves (I left these out and they were fine.)
rock sugar or palm sugar (or regular sugar)
6 T toasted coconut (I used larger dried coconut strips, toasted in an unoiled skillet)
1 c coconut milk, plus 1 c water poured into the coconut milk can to use the solids
(optional) one turmeric leaf tied into a knot (I used one from my plant and the flavor was great. Recommended.)
salt to taste

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1. Blend spice paste ingredients. You can use a mortar and pestle, blender, food processor, or, if you have to, the side of your knife.

2. Heat the oil in a stew pot, add the spice paste, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and cardamom and stir-fry until aromatic. Add the beef and the pounded lemongrass and stir for 1 minute. Add the coconut milk, tamarind juice, water, and simmer on medium heat, stirring frequently until the meat is almost cooked. Add the kaffir lime leaves, kerisik (toasted coconut), sugar or palm sugar, stirring to blend well with the meat.

3. Lower the heat to low, cover the lid, and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is really tender and the gravy has dried up. Add more salt and sugar to taste. Serve immediately with steamed rice. The leftovers are great frozen or packed away for the rest of the week.

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adapted from a few versions, mostly the rasa malaysia and serious eats versions

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If you eat beef, this should absolutely be on your list of special occasion dishes, to eat for birthdays or just to cheer yourself up during a long cold winter. The smell of beef rendang simmering, and the warmth of it on your stovetop, is powerful enough to beat back the winter blues. Sweet, sour, spicy, savory, creamy… this dish is everything. Perfect for a long, lazy January weekend.

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sop buntut (indonesian oxtail soup)

2 1/2 pounds oxtails, cut into sections at the vertebrae
3 quarts water
1 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and bruised
1 piece cinnamon stick
7 cloves
1 whole nutmeg, cracked into several pieces
1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 TBS sugar
2 tsp salt
3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal about 1/4-inch thick
3-4 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1–2 ripe tomatoes, sliced into wedges
1 stalk of Chinese celery (seledri), finely chopped
2 green onions, white part only, thinly sliced
2 TBS fried shallots
2 TBS fried garlic slices
peanut or vegetable oil for frying the potatoes

In a large soup pot, bring the oxtails and water to a steady boil over high heat. Use a spoon or a fine mesh skimmer to skim off any foam that rises to the surface. After you have removed as much foam as possible, reduce the heat to medium-low and add the ginger. Cover and simmer for about an hour.

Next, add the spices, including the sugar and salt, to the pot and continue to simmer, covered, for another 30–45 minutes. The meat should be just beginning to come away from the bones. Taste the broth and add salt to taste.

While the broth simmers, prepare the carrots and potatoes. Bring a medium-sized saucepan of water to a boil. Add the carrots and boil until just tender, two to three minutes. Drain them in a colander and rinse with cold water.

Lightly fry the potatoes until they are light brown. They should be just cooked through the center. Drain on paper towels.

To serve, place some oxtail, carrots, and potatoes in a bowl. Ladle in some hot broth. Top with some wedges of ripe tomato. Sprinkle with the fried shallots, fried slices of garlic, sliced green onion, and chopped Chinese celery.

Serve with rice and sambal. Emping melinjo (melinjo crackers) are a nice accompaniment.

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from javaholic

quick and easy peanut noodles with satay sauce

this takes the cake for SUPER-FAST, easy, impossible to mess up, cheap, and versatile. add only what you’ve got in your cabinet and it’ll be wonderful.

no need to be exact – just a splash of this and splash of that.

substitute away; the only truly necessary ingredients are the first few.

cooked noodles
a splash of oil, butter, ghee, or fat
peanut butter
soy sauce
lime juice
ginger
cayenne
garlic
miso
cooking sherry
sesame seeds
chunks of mostly-cooked broccoli, raw snap peas, or whatever you like

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bored of the same old noodles? try adding:

rice wine vinegar and honey for a sweet-and-sour
leftover veggies
hoisin
crunched-up whole peanuts (or other nuts)
coconut milk
a raw version with raw zucchini ‘noodles’, raw grated carrots, and raw soaked and pureed peanuts-cashews-and-lime-juice (i’ve never done this. in fact i just invented it. but i bet it’s amazing, and i can guarantee i’m not the first person to think of it.)
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combine all ingredients except noodles in a pot. cook until smooth and combined.

toss with noodles.

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other peoples’ peanut sauces?

&& fried peanuts, gula jawa (palm sugar), garlic, shallot, ginger, tamarind, lemon juice, lemongrass, salt, chilli, pepper, sweet soy sauce, ground together and mixed with water

&& a thai-style peanut sauce recipe

indonesian fruit rujak // shrimp paste day

The typical Indonesian fruit rujak consists of slices of assorted tropical fruits such as jambu air (water apple), pineapple, raw mangoes, bengkoang (jicama), cucumber, kedondong, and raw red ubi jalar (sweet potato). Sometimes Malang variants of green apple, belimbing, and jeruk Bali (pomelo) are added. The sweet and spicy-hot bumbu rujak dressing is made of water, gula jawa (palm sugar), asem jawa (tamarind), ground sauteed peanuts, terasi (shrimp paste), salt, bird’s eye chili, and red chili. All of the fruits are sliced to bite-size, and put in the dish. The bumbu rujak or thick sweet spicy rujak dressing is poured on the fruit slices. An addition of sambal garam powder (simple mixture of salt and ground red chilli) is put on side as the alternative for those who love a salty taste for their rujak.

-wikipedia