Chef Joost
Ajam Besengek
Ajam Besengek is the golden chicken stew of the Indo-Dutch table: coconut milk, turmeric, and candlenut cooked down until the sauce clings to the meat like memory.
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Daging Opor
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Daging opor is the pale, fragrant beef stew of the Indo-Dutch table, where coconut milk, candlenut, and lemongrass soften the louder dishes around it.
Main Dishes
Dutch
Dinner Party
Make Ahead
Comfort Food
30 min
Active Time
2 hr 15 min cook•2 hr 45 min total
Yield6 servings
The Dutch table has more than one history, and some of it smells of coconut milk catching the fat of beef in a quiet yellow light. Daging opor did not begin in Zeeland, or Limburg, or Friesland. It came to Dutch kitchens through Java, through colonial households, through repatriated Indo families, through the rijsttafel, rice table, where many small dishes tell one large, complicated story.
The name already tells you enough, without pretending to tell everything. Daging means meat in Indonesian, and opor is the pale coconut stew most famously made with chicken for festive Javanese tables, especially around Lebaran, the end of Ramadan. With beef, it becomes slower, deeper, less festive in appearance perhaps, but generous at the table. But let me tell you a secret: on a rijsttafel, this gentle dish is not the shy one. It is the diplomat. Beside sambal, ketjap-dark braises, pickles, and fried things, opor gives the mouth somewhere soft to stand.
The method is old kitchen common sense. Candlenuts thicken the sauce, coconut milk must not be bullied, and lemongrass gives perfume only if you bruise it first. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple: brown the beef lightly, cook the spice paste until it smells rounded and no longer raw, then let time do the work. History and cookery, they cannot be separated, but supper still has to arrive.
Opor is a Javanese coconut-milk stew closely associated with festive meals, especially opor ayam served for Lebaran with ketupat, compressed rice cakes. Beef versions entered Dutch domestic cooking through the Indo-Dutch table, particularly after Indonesian independence and the migration of Indo families to the Netherlands in the 1940s and 1950s, when dishes once cooked in colonial households became part of Dutch home repertoire. In rijsttafel service, daging opor often functions as a pale, mild counterpoint to darker ketjap braises and sharper sambals.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
beef chuck or stewing beef
Quantity
1kg
cut into 4cm pieces
neutral oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
shallots
Quantity
6
roughly chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
roughly chopped
candlenuts
Quantity
5
or 8 macadamia nuts if unavailable
fresh ginger
Quantity
3cm
peeled and chopped
fresh galangal
Quantity
3cm
sliced
ground coriander
Quantity
2 teaspoons
ground cumin
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
ground white pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
ground turmeric
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
lemongrass stalks
Quantity
2
bruised
Indonesian salam leaves
Quantity
3
or 2 bay leaves if unavailable
kaffir lime leaves (optional)
Quantity
2
full-fat coconut milk
Quantity
400ml
beef stock or water
Quantity
500ml
palm sugar or light brown sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons
plus more to taste
lime juice
Quantity
1 tablespoon
to finish
fried shallots (optional)
Quantity
to serve
cooked white rice
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| beef chuck or stewing beefcut into 4cm pieces | 1kg |
| neutral oil | 2 tablespoons |
| shallotsroughly chopped | 6 |
| garlic clovesroughly chopped | 4 |
| candlenutsor 8 macadamia nuts if unavailable | 5 |
| fresh gingerpeeled and chopped | 3cm |
| fresh galangalsliced | 3cm |
| ground coriander | 2 teaspoons |
| ground cumin | 1/2 teaspoon |
| ground white pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| ground turmeric | 1/2 teaspoon |
| lemongrass stalksbruised | 2 |
| Indonesian salam leavesor 2 bay leaves if unavailable | 3 |
| kaffir lime leaves (optional) | 2 |
| full-fat coconut milk | 400ml |
| beef stock or water | 500ml |
| palm sugar or light brown sugar | 1 tablespoon |
| saltplus more to taste | 1 1/2 teaspoons |
| lime juiceto finish | 1 tablespoon |
| fried shallots (optional) | to serve |
| cooked white rice | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy braadpan or Dutch oven, 4 to 5 liters
- •Mortar and pestle or small food processor
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Make the paste
Grind the shallots, garlic, candlenuts, ginger, galangal, coriander, cumin, white pepper, turmeric, and a spoonful of the oil to a thick paste. A mortar gives the best texture, a small processor gives you supper before midnight. Both are respectable. Candlenuts must be cooked through, so do not taste the raw paste.
- 2
Brown the beef
Pat the beef dry and season it lightly with salt. Heat the remaining oil in a heavy braadpan, Dutch oven, over medium-high heat, then brown the meat in batches until the edges take colour. You are not trying to make a dark stew here; just give the beef enough browned surface to hold its own in the coconut sauce.
- 3
Cook the paste
Lower the heat to medium and add the spice paste to the same pan. Cook it for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until it thickens, loses its raw onion sharpness, and the oil begins to show at the edges. This is the step that buys you depth. Skip it and the sauce will taste like a cupboard, not a kitchen.
If the paste catches, add a tablespoon of water and keep stirring. Browning is welcome on the beef, not on the candlenut paste. - 4
Start the braise
Return the beef and any juices to the pan. Add the bruised lemongrass, salam leaves, lime leaves if using, stock or water, palm sugar, and salt. Bring it to a gentle simmer, scrape the bottom clean, then cover with the lid slightly ajar and cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes, until the beef is beginning to yield but is not yet fully tender.
- 5
Add coconut milk
Stir in the coconut milk and keep the heat low. Let the opor murmur uncovered for 35 to 45 minutes, stirring now and then, until the beef is tender and the sauce has thickened to a pale, glossy coat. Coconut milk is patient but proud; boil it hard and it splits to teach you manners.
- 6
Finish and rest
Taste for salt, then stir in the lime juice. Remove the lemongrass and leaves if you like, or leave them in as the old warning that not everything in a stew is meant to be eaten. Rest the opor for 15 minutes before serving with white rice and fried shallots.
Chef Tips
- •Candlenuts are traditional and give opor its soft, rounded body, but they must be cooked. If you cannot find them, macadamia nuts are the honest substitute: rich, pale, and mild.
- •Use full-fat coconut milk. The light version behaves like a poor translation, thin where it should be generous and quick to split under heat.
- •Make this a day ahead for a dinner party. The beef relaxes, the lemongrass settles into the sauce, and the whole dish becomes calmer, which is exactly what opor is meant to be.
- •Serve it with white rice, sambal, atjar, a sharp pickle, and one darker ketjap dish if you are building a small rijsttafel, rice table. Opor's mildness makes sense in company.
Advance Preparation
- •The spice paste can be made 24 hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator.
- •The finished opor keeps three days refrigerated and reheats best over low heat, loosened with a splash of water if the coconut sauce has thickened.
- •For freezing, cool completely and freeze up to two months; thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat gently so the coconut milk stays smooth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 465g)
Calories
800 calories
Total Fat
47 g
Saturated Fat
23 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
23 g
Cholesterol
110 mg
Sodium
850 mg
Total Carbohydrates
55 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
41 g
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