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!

Black Beef Rendang Cottage Pie

This is a classic English party favourite gets an interesting local twist with beef rendang! The result of this fusion is an interesting one. Oh my! The heavenly smells filling my kitchen as this bakes in my oven! My daughter loves it and ate every last morsel in her plate. Bon appetito people!

Black Beef Rendang Cottage Pie

Ingredients

500gm beef

4 shallots – sliced

1 cinnamon stick

3 star anise

3 cardamom pods

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

¼ cup cooking oil

1 tsp vinegar

6 tbsp kerisik (toasted coconut)

3 tbsp palm sugar syrap / to taste

1½ cup water

Spice Paste - Chop the ingredients and blend it in a food processor until fine.

5 tbsp chilie paste

4 cm ginger

1 yellow onion

4 cloves of garlic

2 stalk of lemon grass – white part only

Potato Topping

500g potatoes – peeled, quartered and boiled till soft

2 tbsp fullcream milk

1 tbsp salted butter – melted

¼ tsp pepper

¼ cup of grated cheddar cheese

Directions

To prepare the kerisik (toasted coconut) -- add the grated coconut to a dry wok and stir continuously until they turn golden brown. Leave to cool completely and grind till fine.

Heat the oil in a wok and sauté the shallots, cinnamon stick, star anise and cardamom pods until aromatic.  

Turn down the heat to medium low and add the spice paste. Stir-fry until the moisture has evaporated, about 5-10 minutes and oil surfaces. Add in the spice paste and stir-fry them until nice and aromatic.

Add the beef and stir for 30 second or so.

Add the water, soy sauce and oyster sauce then simmer on low heat, stirring frequently until the meat is cooked and really tender.

Add the kerisik (toasted coconut), vinegar and palm sugar then stir to blend well with the meat. Continue to simmer until the gravy has almost dried up. Dish out and put the rendang into an ovenproof dish.

Preheat the oven to 250⁰C. 

Drain potatoes. Put drained potatoes into a mixing bowl and mash. Stir in milk, butter, pepper and cheese.

Spread mashed potatoes evenly over the beef rendang right to the edges and ruffle with a fork.  

Bake uncovered for 25 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot.

Malta Beef Stew

My daughter loves this.  A savoury slow cooker stew with potatoes, carrots, celery and herbs. I used a pressure cooker to shorten the cooking process or else you’ll need to cook it for about 1 hour or so to soften the meat. If you wish to have a thicker stew then add more corn starch. We like our stew very thick. We also like it beefy so I always add a little more beef. For beef I always use chuck steaks and for lamb I like shoulder chops.

You can use beef broth over beef stock cube and water.   I love the flavor the herbs give to it. The browning process also really put some great flavor on that meat and the yummy bits stuck to the bottom of the pan easily came off during the deglazing with the liquids.

Malta Beef Stew

Ingredients

600g beef – cut into 1-inch cube

1 yellow onion - cut into wedges

4 cloves garlic - crushed

4 sticks celery – chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 carrots - chopped into bite-sized pieces

3 potatoes – peeled and diced

1 can (about 320ml) Malta Malt Drink

2L water

1 beef stock cube

1 tsp dried thyme

½ tsp dried rosemary

2 bay leaves

½ tsp coarsely ground Black pepper

Parsley - chopped

1 tbsp corn starch 

Directions

Season the beef with salt, pepper and coat with a little flour. This helps to dry the surface of the meat and helps better browning.

In batches, brown the beef in a thick-based pan with some olive oil. Transfer the meat into a bowl. Set aside.

Add a little more olive oil into the pan. Sauté the onion and garlic for a minute to soften the onion.

Add the celery and carrots then stir to combine. Cook this for about 2-3 minutes.

Pour the Malta Malt Drink into the stew. Gently scrape the bottom of the pan with a spatula, to release the black bits.

Transfer to a pressure cooker. Pour the water into the cooker and add the beef stock cube. Return the beef into the stew.

Add rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, ground black pepper and potatoes then bring to a boil.

Put on the cover and allow this to cook for about 30 minutes.

Dissolve cornstarch in 3 tbsp cold water and stir into the stew to thicken the gravy. Top with chopped parsley and serve.