Empal daging (Sauteed sweet-spiced beef)

We were craving for beef (and chicken, and lamb...) and the craving got so uncontrollable when I was done cooking my urap sayur. First we had urap sayur with fried fish and I just said, "No, this is not right! I want beef!!". He smiled from ear to ear hearing "beef" word.

So here it is, sweet sauteed beef or Empal Daging. This is sooo soooo sooo very good, you really have to try it. Unless you`re a vegan. Or alergic to beef (is there such a thing?). Or banned from beef (like what I do to him for weekdays). Other than that, please, try this.


So, as usual, start with sauteing garlic. Only this time, add ginger, galangal, and kencur (Kaempferia galanga; an aromatic spice smells somewhat between galangal and ginger). You can just omit kencur if you don`t have it.


When your kitchen starts smelling like an Asian restaurant, dump in the beef. Beef!



Then, pour in coconut milk and add brown sugar and turmeric powder. Stir well.


How much sugar should you add? It depends on how sweet you like it to be.
For me, I sprinkled the sugar in batches and when I started to taste the sweetness, I stopped adding the sugar.

Now, let the soup thickened but stir it occasionally as you don`t want  the beef to get burned at the bottom side. You can add salt and pepper at this stage, but remember not to put too much salt because the soup will be very thick like sauce thick at the end.



Hang on..you almost there..keep your eye on the soup...



..until it looks like this. Taste it, and add salt if you think it`s not enough.


Yum yum! Bring me rice and I can finish the whole beef just like this. Wait, it`s not finished yet.

Heat your frying pan, drizzle oil, and saute the beef until both sides looks crispy. It won`t take long.



Now you can get your rice. For you, of course.




Ingredients:

Garlic
Ginger
Galangal
Kencur
Turmeric
Brown sugar
Coconut milk
Salt and pepper
Beef