Beef in Toasted Coconut Gravy (Daging Kerisik)

This is another recipe which I love.  A favourite in my family.  I jotted this recipe on a piece of paper very long time ago.  I cannot remember the source and ever since I started blogging, the only thing I regretted was that I have many recipes on archive in my computer and jotted down on papers but some of them had no indication of the name of the person from whom I got the recipe or the source from which I got the recipe.  Being young and unmarried then, all I had thought of was to archive or jot down for my own use when I am married and have my own kitchen to cook for my future husband and children.  Never did I thought I would develop an interest to blog about cooking.  Thank you to whoever you are and I am so grateful.

  

I shall not talk much today, let's take a look at the ingredients:

Ingredients:

1 kg of beef - sliced about 1/2 cm thick and braised in a pot of water till soft and tender
1 large onion - finely sliced
2 cm galangal - crushed
2 lemon grass - crushed
6 pieces of kaffir lime leaves - torn into smaller pieces - optional (I added this for the fragrance)
1/2 teacup of sweet soya sauce (Habhal's brand)
3-4 teaspoonfuls of a small packet of toasted ground coconut paste (known as "kerisik" in Malay and can be bought in the local supermarket or provision shops)
1 small bowl of beef stock from the braised beef
2 pieces of tamarind peel
2 tablespoons of fried shallots (I ran out of these)
salt to taste
1 teaspoon sugar (or seasoning or Ajinamoto, if you prefer)

 (*items to be blended in food processor)
2 large onions*
5 shallots*
9 garlics*
2 cm ginger*
2 pieces candlenuts*
10 fresh red chillies* - add more if you like it hot (or you can use dried red chillies - slit in halves, deseeded, boiled and rinsed)

Method:

1.  Heat oil in deep based pan or wok and add in the lemon grass and galangal.  Saute for a few seconds.

2.  Add in half of the torn pieces of the kaffir lime leaves.  Saute for a few seconds.

3.  Add in the finely sliced onions and saute until the onions are withered.

4.  Add in the blended ingredients and saute until oil separates.  Note that it may take quite a while before the oil separates. So don't worry or panic!

5.  Do a ladle slide test or make a gap in between your sauteing mix.  Once you see oil collecting in the gaps, that means oil has separated from your sauteing mix.

6.  Add in the tamarind peels.

7.  Add in the bowl of beef stock.

8.  Give a stir and let simmer for two to three minutes.

9.  Add in the toasted ground coconut paste.  Stir.

10.  Add in the sweet soya sauce.  Stir.

11.  Add in the remaining torn pieces of the kaffir lime leaves.  Add in the teaspoon of sugar (or Ajinamoto, if you prefer) and salt to your taste. Stir. 

12.  Add in the braised beef.  Fold into gravy.

13.  Let simmer for five minutes whilst stirring every now and then.  Do a taste check!

14.  Off fire.  Add in the fried shallots and stir in before serving.

Enjoy it like the Malays like to say it "relek one corner beb" (relax in a corner babe)!  Happy Kitchen-ing!!