Dendeng Age - Spiced Ground Beef
Indonesian dendeng age is ground beef cooked with plenty of spices, palm sugar, and kecap manis. This sweet and spicy beef is the perfect side for nasi gurih or steamed rice.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 2 salam leaves (Indonesian: Indonesian bay leaves), omit if you don't have these
- 1 lb (450 gram) ground beef, or thinly sliced beef
- 1 1/2 tablespoon sweet soy sauce (Indonesian: kecap manis)
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar (Indonesian: gula Jawa), or dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- tamarind juice (from 1/2 tablespoon tamarind + 1 1/2 tablespoon hot water), mix, massage, and strained
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 cup water
- 2 kaffir lime leaves (Indonesian: daun jeruk), remove the ribs and cut into thin slivers
- 75 gram shallot (Indonesian: bawang merah)
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 inch galangal (Indonesian: lengkuas), bruised
- 1/2 tablespoon coriander powder (Indonesian: bubuk ketumbar)
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder (Indonesian: bubuk jinten)
Instructions
- 1
Heat oil in a wok/frying pan on medium-high heat, sauté spice paste and salam leaves until fragrant. About 5 minutes.
- 2
Add ground beef, cook until no longer pink.
- 3
Season with sweet soy sauce, palm sugar, salt, and tamarind juice. Mix well.
- 4
Pour in the coconut milk and water. Mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until all the sauce has been absorbed by the meat. Stir occasionally to prevent the meat from sticking to the wok/pan.
- 5
Add kaffir lime leaves slivers and toss to mix. Turn off the heat and transfer to a serving plate. Set aside to cool.
- 6
Dendeng age is usually served warm or at room temperature. It is best if you can let this age for 2-3 days to let the flavor develops. Simply store the cooled dendeng in an airtight container in the fridge, and reheat the amount you wish to eat as needed.