Empal Gentong (Cirebon's Beef Stew)

I was living in Cirebon for about 1.5 year because of my job. It's a small city in the north of West Java with a very rich cultures and culinary. I stayed in a rented house close to Kanoman Palace so I can see a lot of happening around there. 

I don't mind to visit Cirebon again for the food and local produce over there. One of the food that I really like from Cirebon is Empal Gentong. It's a beef stew with a rich spices taste. I don't remember if I ever buy this stew in a special place, I think I always bought this in any street vendor :)

Ingredients:

400 gr beef (you can use brisket)
1500 ml water
2 bay leaves
2 cm galangal, crushed
2 lemongrass, crushed
1.5 tsp salt
4 tbsp cooking oil
2 tsp cinnamon powder
3 tsp cloves powder
500 ml coconut milk ( i mixed 400ml canned coconut milk and 100ml water)

Spices (ground)
6 shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 toasted candle nuts
2 cm ginger
4 cm turmeric + 1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp toasted coriander
1/4 tsp toasted cumin
4 cardamom
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Topping
2 tbsp sliced chives
2 tbsp fried onion
dry ground chillies

Method

1. Boil the meat in water together with the bay leaves, galangal, lemongrass, and salt until the stock is reduced to 1250ml. 

2. Remove the meat from the water and cut into 1x2 cm size.Put the  beef back to the gravy. 

3. Heat oil on a wok, saute the ground spices. Add the cinnamon  and cloves, stirring, until fragrant and cooked, remove from heat. Put the cooked spices to the pan. Pour the coconut milk, cook until boiling, stir occasionally to prevent the coconut milk from curdling, remove from heat.

4. Serve the stew with chives and fried onions. Add some chili powder if you want a spicy stew.

*i always add extra turmeric powder for the color as i found the turmeric here didn't give enough color to the food.

The recipe inspired from Vania Blog