MALAYSIAN BEEF SOTO

 

Malaysian cuisine consists of cooking traditions and practices found in Malaysia, and reflects the multi-ethnic makeup of its population.The vast majority of Malaysia's population can roughly be divided among three major ethnic groups: Malays, Chinese and Indians. The remainder consists of the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, the Peranakan and Eurasian creole communities, as well as a significant number of foreign workers and expatriates.

As a result of historical migrations, colonisation by foreign powers, and its geographical position within its wider home region, Malaysia's culinary style in the present day is primarily a melange of traditions from its Malay, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and ethnic Bornean citizens, with heavy to light influences from Thai, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabian cuisines and British cuisines, to name a few. This resulted in a symphony of flavours, making Malaysian cuisine highly complex and diverse. The condiments and spices used in cooking varies as the land is blessed with these natural resources that brings bursting flavours in the outcome of meal preparation.

INGREDIENTS

• 800g (28 oz) gravy beef or chuck steak (or substitute with 1 whole chicken if you prefer)
• 1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
• 1 1/2 cm (1/2 inch) galangal, bruised
• 1 inch ginger, bruised
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 cloves
• 4 cardamoms
• 1 1/2 star anise
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 cups water

 

BLEND TOGETHER:

• 5 shallots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 tsp black peppercorns (ground/pounded)
• 5 tsp coriander powder
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground fennel

 

GARNISH:

• Chopped chinese celery or coriander leaves
• Crispy fried shallots
• Chopped scallions

Accompaniments  (see below for recipe):

• Compressed rice
• Bean sprouts, briefly blanched with boiling water
• Kicap Cili
• Sambal (optional)

 

METHOD

• Bring the 6 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Add beef (leave them whole, do not slice yet), lemongrass, galangal, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms, star anise and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and gently simmer for about 2 hours until beef is tender. Strain the stock and put back in the pot. Set the beef aside to cool, then slice thinly into bite-sized pieces.
• Heat up some vegetable oil in a pan/wok and fry the ground/blended ingredients for 5 minutes until fragrant. Add this to the strained beef broth and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes.Top up with a little water if the broth has reduced slightly from boiling the beef.
• Add in the sliced beef and simmer briefly. Add a pinch of MSG if you like.
• Place a few cubes of compressed rice in a individual serving bowls, top with blanched bean sprouts. Ladle the soup and beef into the bowls. Garnish with coriander leaves, shallots and scallions. Serve hot with Kicap Cili and/or Sambal.