Empal (Sliced Of Boiled Beef Simmered In A Rich Stock And Then Fried)
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) beef, silverside or topside
Salt
3 red chillis (optional)
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground coriander
1 slice, or a pinch of ground, laos (galingale)
a little tamarind
1 tsp brown sugar
1 cup thick santen (coconut milk) made from half a coconut or from 180 g (6 oz) desiccated coconut
Vegetable oil, for frying
Boil the beef, with a littlesalt, for 2 hours. At the end, there should be only about 2 cupfuls of stock left with the beef in the saucepan.
Seed and slice the chillis (but reduce or omit these if you do not want the dish to be hot). Crush the garlic.
Cut the boiled beef into, say, 8 slices. Beat the slices with a meat beater to flatten them. Put all the ingredients except the oil into the stock, ending with the meat, and the santen. Simmer until most of the stock has been taken up into the meat. Take the meat out of the pan and let it cool. Then fry the slice of meat in a frying-pan with a little oil, as if you were frying steak. (Alternatively, deep-fry). Serve hot.
