Beef with dry coconut milk (rendang sapi)

Recipe is borrowed from here.

Modifications
1. Coconut milk amount is cut down to the bare minimum, just enough to give the taste.
2. Leanest beef cut is used to cut down on the amount of fat. The downside is that cooking time has to be increased a lot, otherwise you will feel like you are chewing shoes.

Cooking time
- preparation: 10 mins
- boiling beef: 3 hours
- heating coconut milk: 20 mins
- drying beef: 2 hours

Ingredients (serve 5)

1 kg beef shank, cut into medium pieces
1 cup coconut milk
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp tamarind

Leaves spice:
4 lime leaves
2 stalk lemongrass, put aside 1.5" of the root part, bruised

Spice paste:
2.5 tsp crushed chili
10 small shallots
5 cloves garlic
1.5" galangal
2" ginger
2 stalk lemongrass, 1.5" of the root part
3 lime leaves
1 tbsp ground coriander, dry heated
1 tsp cumin, dry heated
1 tsp pepper, dry heated
4 anise star

Nutritional information (per serving)

		PRO	FAT	CARB
beef shank, 200 g		44g	8g	0g
coconut milk, 1/5 cup		0g	7g	0g
TOTAL (311 cals)		44g	15g	0g

Cooking instruction
1. Cook beef shank in slow cooker for 3 hours. Leave 1 cup of the broth, and put beef aside.
2. Heat coconut milk with leaves spice and anise star until it's boiling. Once anise star is a little soft, blend with the spice paste.
3. Mix spice paste in coconut milk, stir often for 15 minutes and then turn down the heat to low.
4. Mix beef, beef broth, tamarind and salt, and heat it using low heat for 2 hours or until sauce becomes very dry. Stir vigorously every 15 minutes or so to avoid the coconut milk to separate and beef to burnt.
5. If beef is soft enough, but there are still too much sauce left, separate beef from the sauce. Heat the sauce by itself until it's very dry, and broil the beef for 5-10 mins until it's very dry. Enjoy!

Results





1st attempt
The food looks good, but I am not sure if it taste right. I like it a little bit sweeter, so I put just a tad of sugar before eating.

Sweet soy sauce grilled chicken (ayam panggang kecap)

Recipe is borrowed from here.

Modifications
Butter is not used when grilling since the chicken skin is enough to keep the meat moist.

Cooking time
- preparation: 10 mins
- marinade: 15 mins
- boiling: 20 mins
- broiling: 15 mins

Ingredients (serve 4)

1 kg chicken breast (4 medium piece)
1 lime
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
2 bay leaves
1/2" galangal
2 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp crushed chili

Spice paste:
4 cloves garlic
4 small shallots
4 candlenuts
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

Nutritional information (per serving)

		PRO	FAT	CARB
chicken breast w. skin, 180 g		43g	15g*	0g
sweet soy sauce, 1 tbsp		0g	0g	8g
TOTAL (347 cals)		43g	15g	8g

*: removing the chicken skin drops the fat to 4 g.

Cooking instruction
1. Marinade chicken pieces with lime juice for 15 minutes, and then wash with water.
2. Put chicken in sauce pan and water until it covers the chicken. Blend spice paste and mix with water. Heat sauce pan with medium heat until water boils and leave it until only a little water is left. Put chicken aside and keep the spice mix.
3. Turn the heat on the top part of oven to 400F for 10 minutes, and broil chicken for 5-10 mins on each side until it's browned nicely. Every 2 mins or so, brush chicken with spice mix.
4. Once chicken is ready, brush with sweet soy sauce and crushed chili. Enjoy!

Results





1st attempt
Good. That is all. =)

String bean with ground beef (sapi ca buncis)

Recipe is borrowed from here.

Modifications
Ground beef portion is increased to boost the protein content.

Cooking time
- preparation: 10 mins
- stir fry: 20 mins

Ingredients (serve 3)

500 g lean ground beef
500 g string bean, cut into 1.5" pieces
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
6 cloves garlic
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp pepper

Nutritional information (per serving)

		PRO	FAT	CARB
ground beef, 170 g		34g	17g*	0g
string bean, 170 g		2g	1g	7g
TOTAL (334 cals)		36g	18g	7g

*: fat content is most likely lower, since that value is for non-drained and non-rinsed ground beef. Research has shown decrease of 25% to 75% of the fat for drained and rinsed ground beef. Since the range is so large, I am hesitant to put an actual number.

Cooking instruction
1. Brown ground beef, drain the fat and then rinse with hot water. Put aside and marinade with oyster sauce and sugar.
2. Heat wok, put string beans inside and cover until beans are cooked (should take around 5-7 minutes). Put aside.
3. Brown garlic in wok, and then mix in beef, string bean, fish sauce and pepper. Stir fry and mix well. Enjoy!

Results





1st attempt
The beans are crunchy, but not hard. The beef taste just right. Not as fancy as the other stuff, but good. =)