{Guest Post} Gulai Cancang (Beef Curry) by Lia, Bentolicious

Today I have invited Lia from  Bentolicious whom is a very talented mummy of 2. She has never failed to excite her readers with her beautiful and creative bento(s)(read more HERE) which reflects her love and passion for her kids. Each time whenever I visit her blog I will be amazed with her ideas and skills in assembling those gorgeous bento.

I get to know Lia since a few years back while leaving comments in some of our favourite bento sites. And recently Lia has started "Bloglicious" where she shared her homecook dishes, bakes as well as some food reviews. For this Guest Post, I am so happy that Lia is here to share with us one of her Indonesia curry dish known as "Gulai Cancang". Without delay, let's take a look at this delicious dish and it's recipe.

GULAI CANCANG

I am a reader of Cuisine Paradise for quite sometimes now. I always admire Ellena’s cooking and baking skills, showed on her delicious blog. She is one of the passionate foodie bloggers from Singapore. She also prepares bento for her son, perhaps that the reason we knew each other in the blogging world. Last week, she asked me whether I could make a guest post for her blog. I was excited and nervous at the same time. After reviewing some choices about Indonesian foods that I wanted to post, I chose ‘Gulai Cancang’ or Beef Curry from West Sumatra. I believe that some of you from the South East Asia region, especially from Singapore and Malaysia are familiar with Padangnese foods. Indonesia is very rich with its culinary heritage, each region has its different culinary that sometimes I don’t know or never taste it before.

Padangnese foods are one of my favorite because they are so tasty that surely will make you eat more than 1 portion of rice. Gulai Cancang usually uses beef or lamb. But since I don’t eat lamb, I choose beef to cook this curry.

Ingredients:-

1kg Beef Brisket
1.5 Litres – 2 Litres water
400ml Thick Coconut Milk / 150ml Coconut Cream
2 Star Anise
1 Teaspoon White Peppercorn
1 Tablespoon Curry Powder
2 Asam Kandis
2 Stalks Lemongrass, bruised
4 Indonesian Bay Leaves
3 Kaffir Lime Leaves
1 Turmeric Leave, knotted
2 Teaspoon Salt or to taste
3 Tablespoons Cooking Oil

Spices Paste:
75 gr Shallot
40 gr Garlic
40 gr Ginger
40 gr Galangal
120 gr Big Red Chilli

Directions:-

1. Boil the water in a pot and cook the beef brisket until tender. I use electric press cooker to speed up the process.

2. Meanwhile, grind shallot, garlic, ginger, galangal and chilli to fine paste with mortar & pestle or electric blender.

3. When the meat is already tender, remove it from the pot, but leave the beef stock inside the pot.

4. Diced the beef brisket about 2 x 2cm.

5. Heat cooking oil in a large pan.

6. Stir fry the spices paste, star anise, white peppercorn, curry powder, asam kandis, lemongrass, Indonesian bay leave, kaffir lime leave, and turmeric leave until aromatic over medium heat.

7. Add 1.5L beef stock. Add salt.

8. Stir well together for few minutes.

9. Add the diced beef brisket. Add coconut milk / coconut cream, keep stiring.

10. Cook until the liquid become slightly thicken. Serve it warm with rice.

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Once again, thanks Lia for this wonderful Guest Post and if you wish to find out more about Lia's  Bento creations/tips or her homecooked dishes. Do head over to her blog at Bentolicious. (p/s: photos and recipe shown here all copyright and credited to Bentolicious)