Sate Padang - broiled skewered braised beef

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   Another part of our big Indonesian feast. From Foods of the World: Pacific and Southeast Asian Cooking. 

 Sate Padang (Sumatra)

Broiled skewered braised beef with spiced coconut milk sauce

To make 6 to 8 sate

2 lbs bottom round of beef, trimmed of all fat, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 cup finely chopped onions

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh hot chilies

1 tsp finely chopped garlic

1 tsp scraped, finely grated fresh ginger root

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 1/2 ground turmeric

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

1 cup coconut milk

Place the beef in a heavy 3- to 4-quart saucepan and pour in enough water to cover it by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer partially covered for 1 hour, or until the beef is tender but still intact. Transfer the beef to a plate to cool.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Combine the onions, chilies, garlic, ginger and 1/3 cup of water* in the jar of an electric blender and blend at high speed for 30 seconds. Turn of the machine and scrape down the sides of the jar with a rubber spatula, then blend again until the mixture is smooth.

In a heavy 10- to 12-inch skillet, heat the oil over moderate heat until a light haze forms above it. Add the contents of the blender jar and, stirring frequently, cook briskly until most of the liquid in the pan has evaporated and the mixture is thick. Stir in the coriander, turmeric, cumin and salt and cook for a minute or so. Then pour in the coconut milk, mix well and remove the pan from the heat.

Preheat the broiler to its highest point. Thread the cubes of beef tightly, 4 or 5 pieces at a time, on a small skewer - preferably Oriental wooden skewers about 6 inches long. Protect the exposed ends of the wooden skewers by wrapping them with foil. With a pastry brush, spread a generous coating of the sauce evenly over the beef. Arrange the skewers on a large baking sheet and broil them 4 inches from the heat, turning them once or twice, for about 3 minutes, or until crisp and brown.

Arrange the skewers on a heated platter and brush the meat again with sauce. Reheat the remaining sauce and serve it in a small bowl.

*there is a minor type in the book - it says "1-3 cup of water". Some recipes don't include water in the ingredient list so this threw me for a loop for half a second, thinking I needed to add a large amount of water...but not sure how much! I quickly realized the dash should have been a slash. Just don't want anyone else to fall into that potential trap if you have the book!

Again, this was a group effort, so I have little of the cooking pictures.

I had previously cut up about a pound of beef for another recipe that was abandoned. So it was cut into somewhat smaller pieces. It was part of a tri-tip steak, a cut I found to be quite nice the first part I prepared.  In it went into the water to simmer for about an hour. I admit to thinking that boiling beef was not the most appetizing smell.

Sauce ingredients...but forgot to put the coconut milk in the picture!

It went into the cup for my immersion blender...looking rather garishly green...and then into the skillet after heating the oil.

After cooking about 5 minutes, it was very thick and time to add the spices and the coconut milk. Because the coconut milk had been in the fridge, I turned off the heat and let it sit on the burner to help bring it all to a good temperature.

We did these on the grill along with the pork and chicken sate. Off the grill:

I made the entire sauce recipe even though we didn't have but about half the meat. I figured it could be used with the other sates, but it was a completely different flavor than those were, so we only used it on the beef. And really, enough was still on the meat that I don't think anyone bothered with more sauce.

They were good. I bet if it was the only sate we had made that day, we would have thought them excellent, but they paled in comparison to the pork and chicken!

Pork sate recipe

Chicken sate recipe (to be posted soon)