Kalio - coconut beef

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Kalio is a Sumatran dish made with coconut milk and beef. It was a recipe I was pretty apprehensive about but it turned out fine.  I fairly closely followed the T/L FotW recipe but made a half batch and left out the chili in the hope my toddler would eat some of it (which she did!).
Here's the full version with my modifications in brackets - we made a half batch.

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To serve 4 to 6 [we halved it and STILL had 4 servings!]

2 lb lean beef chuck, trimmed of excess fat, slived 1 inch thick and cut into 2 1/2 by 1 inch pieces [the farmer was OUT of chuck roast! He talked me into tri-tips and I can't say I regret it - excellent texture!]
3 cups coarsely chopped onions [I wasn't paying attention and chopped them pretty fine]
2 tbsp coarsely chopped garlic [again, finely chopped]
2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp scraped, finely grated fresh giner root
1 tsp finely chopped fresh hot chili
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper [omitted]
10 cups fresh coconut milk, made from 8 to 10 cups coarsely chopped coconut and 10 cups hot water [yeah...we used canned stuff - 3 cans was just about 5 cups]

Preheat the oven to 375F. In a heavy 6 to 8 quart casserole, mix all the ingredients. [it was shockingly soupy at this point - tons of liquid and very little 'stuff'].

Stirring frequently, bring to a boil over high heat. Place the casserole on the middle shelf of the oven and, stirring every 30 minutes or so, cook uncovered for about 3 hours, or until the beef is soft enough to be easily pulled apart with a fork and the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.  [the 'soup' went through an incredible transformation from slightly cream colored thin liquid, to greenish, and finally to a yellow thick paste]

Kalio is traditionally accompanied by hot boiled rice.
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We also served it with bawa ginoreng - spinach fritters with coconut-milk batter.

My husband couldn't stop raving about it.  Thought it was the best meal he had ever had.  At first he said he wanted to make it every week but then did the math on the 5 cups of coconut milk and decided maybe we should keep such a high calorie dish to an occasional treat!  I had a hard time eating all of mine - might be why we got so many servings from it! It was so incredibly rich, I had to mix a lot with rice. Hubby blames my pregnant taste buds and says I'm not to be trusted right now though!