Beef Dendeng

This week I'm into soy sauce, so here's another great-with-rice dish.

Beef Dendeng

Ingredients

1kg fresh beef

30 pcs shallots – coarsely blended

2 pcs yellow onion – finely blended

3 inches ginger – finely blended

2 bulb garlic – finely blended

½ cup dried chilli paste

½ cup chilli sauce

¾ cup sweet soy sauce

1 tsp tamarind paste

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt / to taste

1 ½ cup cooking oil

Directions

Boil the beef for atleast 30 minutes or until it is tender. Remove it and let it sit for 5 minutes. Keep the broth. Cut against the grain into ½ cm-thick slices (otherwise it would feel like chewing a mouthful of rubber bands later).

Bash the beef slices thin with a pestle and a thick cutting board.  Lay the piece of meat on a cutting board, pound one side with the mortar until it thins out. This process is to tenderize a tougher cut of meat by breaking up some of those tough muscle fibres and stretching them out. Start pounding on the outer edge and work your way in to the middle.

Marinade the beef with sweet soy sauce. Mix thoroughly to ensure that it is evenly coated, cover and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Deep fry the marinated beef in batches until dark and slightly crispy for about 1 minute. Make sure to keep it in a single layer while frying. Set aside.

In the same wok, using the same cooking oil, sauté the garlic and ginger until aromatic for about 5 minutes. Add in the shallot and yellow onion then continue to sauté until the oil separates.

Stir in the chilli paste and continue to cook until the oil separates again. Season with sugar, salt, tamarind paste and chilli sauce. Stir to combine well.

Add in the fried beef and stir to coat. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce is thickened. If it is too dry then add in a ½ cup of the beef broth.

Note: It’s best when it has rested for a day!