Empal: Deep Fried Sliced Beef
Empal is a dish of deep fried beef slices, considered a luxury in Indonesian home cooking because it calls for premium cuts of beef. The beef is stewed in a spice paste, lightly pounded, then fried, resulting in a rich and savoury dish.
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr
- Yield
- 5 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 kg topside beef
- 8 small shallots, peeled, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled, chopped
- 2 candlenuts, chopped
- 1 tsp whole coriander seeds
- 2 Indonesian bay leaves (daun salam)
- 3 cm galangal, skin-on, bruised
- 1 tsp tamarind
- Salt to taste
- 2 cups water
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- 1
Slice the meat along the grain, with each slice measuring around 2×10 cm. Set aside.
- 2
Using a blender or food processor, blend the shallots, garlic, candlenut and coriander seeds into a fine paste.
- 3
In a nonstick cooking pot, put the sliced meat, spice paste, galangal and salt.
- 4
Extract the tamarind juice by squeezing it with 2 tbsp of water.
- 5
Add the tamarind extract to the pan.
- 6
Add 1 cup of water.
- 7
Mix all the ingredients together and cook it under a medium high flame.
- 8
When it boils, reduce the flame to medium.
- 9
Continue cooking for another 45 minutes or until the meat is tender, but still firm. If you find the pot drying up, add hot water to prevent burning.
- 10
Turn off the flame and cool off the meat.
- 11
Using a mortar and pestle, pound the meat lightly, making sure the meat does not disintegrate.
- 12
Fry the meat until it turns brown, around 2-3 minutes each side.