Chef's notes

Great with some rice and vegetables, or combined with fries and a salad.
This stew can also be filled with several vegetables to make it even more interesting: carrot, leek, whatever you'd like.

I love making a big batch and put into the freezer so you can use it anytime you don't have much time to cook.

Details

  • ⏲️ Prep time: 10 min
  • 🍳 Cook time: 5 hours

Ingredients

  • 1 kilogram of beef chuck, cut into cubes (not too small)
  • 3 onions, sliced into half rings
  • 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 3 centimeters of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
  • 1 red chili pepper, finely chopped
  • 5 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce (ketjap manis)
  • 2 tablespoons of salty soy sauce (ketjap asin)
  • 200 milliliters of coconut milk
  • 500 milliliters of lukewarm water (may need more)
  • 2 vegetable bouillon cubes
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 5 tablespoons of chili sauce (sweet chili sauce preferred)
  • A pinch of pepper and salt
  • 1 tablespoon of flour
  • Butter
  • Oil
  • 1 tablespoon of cornstarch (optional)

Directions

  1. Season the beef cubes with pepper and salt, then mix in 1 tablespoon of flour.
  2. Heat a generous amount of oil and a piece of butter in a Dutch oven or a large, heavy-bottomed pan.
  3. Brown the beef in batches until golden brown on all sides.
  4. Take the brown beef out of the pan
  5. Add another splash of oil and a small piece of butter to the pan, then sauté the onions, garlic, ginger, and red chili pepper for 2 minutes.
  6. Return the beef to the pan.
  7. Stir in 5 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce (ketjap manis), 2 tablespoons of salty soy sauce (ketjap asin), 5 tablespoons of chili sauce, and 200 ml of coconut milk.
  8. Crumble the vegetable bouillon cubes over the mixture and add lukewarm water until the meat is just submerged (approximately 500 ml in my case).
  9. Optionally add some chopped vegetables like carrot, leek etc.
  10. Add the bay leaves, and almost cover the pan with a lid.
  11. Let the meat simmer for at least 5 hours; the longer, the better.
  12. If the sauce remains too thin, you can add a cornstarch slurry at the end. (To do this, mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with a small splash of cold water.)