Beef Penang

Disclaimer: I am not Malaysian and I don’t really know the difference between rendang and penang, so forgive me if this is not the correct one. Formalities done, let’s proceed.

I am a big fan of no-fuss cooking. Toss everything in a pot and leave. Come back to a mouth-watering dish. Sound about perfect!

Beef penang is just that: melt-in-the-mouth pieces of beef, infused with all the lovely flavours of galangal (Filipino: langkawas), coconut, lemongrass, chili and kaffir lime. All it requires is basic prep.

Cheap cuts work best for slow cooking. Shin of beef is ideal, as the tough, sinew-y flesh is guaranteed to turn moist and buttery. A trick for this recipe is to use pre-made red curry paste (no MSG, no E-numbers), and awaken the flavours by using fresh ingredients too. I used:

1.5 kg shin of beef, chunks/diced

2 tins coconut milk (no E-numbers please!), about 800mL

2 tbsps red curry paste

2 stalks of fresh lemongrass, bashed

6 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 pcs star anise

2 sticks cinnamon

1 tbsp grated ginger

10 large fresh kaffir lime leaves, shredded

1 tsp cumin seeds

A bit of ghee / coconut oil

Fish sauce

1. Pre-heat oven to 140C.

2. In an oven-friendly pan, heat 2 tbsp ghee/oil on medium and fry the curry paste, garlic, ginger, cumin, lemongrass, cinnamon and star anise until fragrant. Make sure they do not burn.

3. Turn heat up, put the meat in and partially brown for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then.

3. Pour in the coconut milk and stir. This should cover the meat. If not, top up with a little water. Heat up to boiling.

4. Cover and place in the oven, and let cook for about 3 hours.

5. Check the tenderness of meat and adjust seasoning with fish sauce.

6. Put back in for another 30 minutes or an hour.

7. Take out and stir in shredded lime leaves.

8. Serve on rice or lots of vegetables of your choice.

This keeps well in the fridge or freezer, and tastes so much better after a few days. If it lasts that long. ;)

Easy Spicy Beef Pieces

It’s been a long time coming. Apologies, apologies! Have been so busy with work, training and flat hunting.  The latter is exhausting and occasionally frustrating. Fingers crossed one with a good dining space is available and hopefully a paleo supperclub might just materialise!!! Still far out though.

Right, this beef nibble is so easy.  All you need is a larder staple: red curry paste. Just make sure it does not contain nasty stuff like MSG and added sugar --- check the label. You can use sirloin for the meat, but I found flat iron steak works just as good. Half the price, too. Here are all you need:

1 kg flat iron steak, cut into thick strips

1.5 tbsp red curry paste (or more)

2 tbsp cane vinegar

2 tbsp fish sauce

3 cloves grated garlic

1 inch grated ginger

1 tbsp honey (optional)

1. Mix the marinade and dunk the meat in. Leave for 30 minutes minimum, overnight ideally.

2. Pan-fry on very high heat for about 2 minutes each side depending on the size of your beef. I prefer mine a little bit pink. TIP: do not crowd the pan, otherwise, the meat will steam.

3. Eat with your favourite veggies.

You can have this any time of the day. Great for breakfast with avocado and plum tomatoes.

Paleo Parmigiana (Beef Aubergine Layers)

Parmigiana is a hearty Italian dish made with layers of fried aubergines, beef mince and parmesan cheese.  This paleo version does away with the cheese.  It does not lack in flavour though.  You’ll have to trust me on that. :D

The proportions I used made a big batch – freeze or eat for lunch the next day – perfect for lazy ladybirds and busy bees. I used:

800g mince beef

5 cloves of garlic, minced

3 dried bay leaves

2 star anise

5 big heaped tbsp of tomato puree / paste

Salt and pepper to taste

Bit of stock / water

3 large aubergines sliced (1 cm thickness)

Bit of salt

Olive oil

Note: you can salt the aubergine slices before proceeding, to extract moisture prior to frying.

1. Brown the meat in a pan. Make sure to really break the mince pieces.  I do this until the meat is browned well and frying in its own fat.  This deepens the beef flavour.

2. Make space in the pan and fry the garlic in the rendered fat until fragrant and a tad brown. Mix.

3. In go the bay leaves, star anise, tomato puree, and maybe a cup of stock or water. Season.  Add some chilli or cayenne pepper if you prefer.

4. Leave to simmer for about 30 minutes.

5. Pat the aubergine slices dry. Sprinkle with olive oil.

6. Cook them in a hot frying pan or a griddle pan until soft or a little bit charred on both sides.  Add some more oil if needed.

7. Once done, spoon some meat at the bottom of a baking dish, cooked aubergine next. Layer and end with aubergines on top.

8. Sprinkle with olive oil (I used basil-infused oil) on top and grill on high for about 5 minutes.

9. Serve and enjoy.