Daging Roedjak

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy braadpan or Dutch oven, 4-liter or larger
• •Blender, mortar and pestle, or small food processor
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the bumbu

   Blend or pound the shallots, garlic, chilies, candlenuts, trassi, coriander, cumin, and ginger into a rough paste. This paste is the bumbu, the seasoning base, and it should smell sharp now; the pan will teach it manners. If your trassi is in a block, toast it briefly in foil in a dry pan first until fragrant, then add it to the paste.

2. 2

   Fry the paste

   Warm the oil in a heavy braadpan, a Dutch oven, over medium heat. Add the bumbu and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the raw onion smell has gone and the oil begins to glisten at the edges. Do not rush this. A raw bumbu makes a loud sauce; a cooked one becomes deep and settled.

   If the paste catches before it cooks through, add a spoonful of coconut milk and keep stirring. You are frying the paste, not scorching it into bitterness.
3. 3

   Coat the beef

   Add the beef pieces and turn them through the cooked paste until every surface is stained brick-red and aromatic. You are not chasing a hard brown crust here; the flavour is being built in the paste and the long braise. Add the galangal, lemongrass, daun salam, and kaffir lime leaves if using.

4. 4

   Start the braise

   Pour in the coconut milk and stock or water, then stir in the tamarind paste, palm sugar, and salt. Bring it just to a gentle simmer, scraping the bottom of the pan so nothing clings. Taste the sauce now. It should be too intense by itself, sour, sweet, salty, and hot, because the beef and rice will soften it later.

5. 5

   Cook until tender

   Cover the pan partly and simmer gently for about 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes, until the beef gives way when pressed with a spoon. Keep the heat low; coconut milk can split if bullied. If the sauce thickens before the meat is tender, add a splash of water and continue. Patience is cheaper than better beef, and often more effective.

6. 6

   Set the balance

   Lift out the lemongrass, galangal, and leaves. Stir in the kecap manis if you want a darker, rounder finish, then taste carefully. Add a little more tamarind if it tastes heavy, a pinch more sugar if it tastes thinly sour, or salt if the flavours refuse to stand up. Serve with plain white rice, and let the rice do its quiet Dutch work of making abundance behave.

Chef Tips

• •Use stewing beef with connective tissue: chuck, blade, or runderlappen. Lean steak turns dry before the sauce has told its story.
• •Trassi matters. It should smell powerful before cooking, then disappear into savoury depth. If shellfish is not possible at your table, use a teaspoon of miso and a little extra salt; it is not the same, but it keeps the dish generous.
• •Make it one day ahead. The coconut, tamarind, and beef settle overnight, and the sauce thickens into the clingy texture a rijsttafel dish wants.
• •Serve it with plain rice and two or three small companions: cucumber acar, sambal, and something green. Rijsttafel means rice table, not a contest in how many pans one household can wash.

Advance Preparation

• •The bumbu can be made up to two days ahead and refrigerated, covered, until needed.
• •The finished braise is best made 24 hours ahead; cool it quickly, refrigerate, and reheat gently with a splash of water if the sauce has thickened too much.
• •Keeps three days refrigerated and freezes well, though coconut sauces should be reheated slowly to keep the texture smooth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)