recipe-indonesian-food

Semur Betawi | Betawi Braised Beef

Semur or just to put it simply is actually braised beef. It is cooked for hours and hours in very low heat, until the beef is meltingly tender and all the spices are absorb thoroughly. It is one of the most typical Indonesian dish, that (strangely enough) could not be found anymore in many restaurants all over the country. It is considered as a very humble domestic dish that is surely not fancy enough to be featured in a food blog. Most people eat it at home. (Seriously, have you ordered semur in a restaurant? me not! Not that you could find it anyway on any menu cards)

The Dutch is also very fond of this dish or Smoor as they call it. I could not really say, the origin of this dish. What I can tell you for sure, the Dutch version is nowhere close the Indonesian version. Ok, ok, enough of me mocking the Dutch food (again).

There are many different varieties of semur in Indonesia. It could be from chicken or beef. Though they are very different in term of the combination of the spices, there is one common characteristic; they all bear sweet soy sauce. Semur has to be a kind of sweetish in its nature. It is also very aromatic and tasty. This one is a version from the city I grew up Jakarta, it has a lot of spices in it. This recipe is adapted from my paternal grandmother’s recipe.

But before I proceed to the recipe, here are some tips for cooking semur.
1. Lean beef does not make good semur. We have to use the part that has some fat and muscles on it (flank or shank or brisket) that needs more cooking time but it really makes a whole lot different. Trust me! If you are not sure which part to buy, just tell your butcher that you need stewing meat.
2. Potatoes or no potatoes?
Some semur have potatoes in it, some do not. If really depends on your preferences really. Potato also helps to thicken down the gravy.
3. Use a Dutch oven or a thick bottom cooking pot. If you want to cut down the cooking time, use pressure pan instead. You could cook it in 1/4 of the time that you’d need in a normal cooking pan.
4. Which spices to add? Most semur bears white pepper, coriander seeds, cloves, cinnamon, candle nuts, chillies, ginger, purple onion and garlic. Some other recipes also add galangal, nutmet and cumin, but I think the aforementioned ones are the most important ones.
Candle nut is crucial to form the base of the gravy as it thickens down the sauce nicely. If you could not find it, add the potato to thicken the sauce.
5. Use good quality real Indonesian kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), don’t ever attempt to use the Dutch kecap. It is watery and more salty than sweet.

Ok here is what you need for 5-6 portions.
Ingredients:
800 kg stewing meat, cut into 5×5x2 cm
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
2 big plump tomato, quartered
800 ml water or more
8 small new potatoes, peeled, keep whole or cut into 3X3X3 cm
50ml sweet soy sauce
2 table spoon vegetable oil to fry
Salt to taste

Pulse the following ingredients in a small processor to a smooth paste:
6 cloves garlic.
1 big purple onion, quartered.
1 thumb ginger, peeled.
1 table tea spoon white pepper corn (sorry for the typing mistake!!)
1 table tea spoon coriander seed (sorry for the typing mistake!!)
6 candle nuts
2 big red chillies, don’t bother to deseed them.

Methods:
1. Heat the oil in the cooking pot, add the spice paste and stir fry until fragrant. (around 4 minutes)
2. Add the meat and brown them at all sides (around 5 minutes)
3. Add the tomatoes, a pinch of salt, sweet soy sauce, cloves and cinnamon.
4. Add the water and simmer for 1.5 hours with very low heat until the meats are tender. Add some water you must. The gravy should be somewhat thick not watery though.
5. After the meat is tender, add the potatoes and cook until they are done. Don’t let them desintegrate.
6. Serve warm with steamed white rice and crispy fried onions (available at most Asian supermarket).

p.s. ok, ok, i know i have to submit my phd thesis in 6 days, but please let me write this post before that.