This is a pretty easy dish to make. It is a good companion dish to go with nasi gurih (savory rice), but it is also perfect even with regular steamed white rice. If you want a spicy dendeng, you can always add a couple of bird eye chilies (Indonesian: cabe rawit), but I think it is better to keep it non spicy and serve with sambal terasi or sambal bajak alongside the dendeng and rice.

Dendeng Age - Spiced Ground Beef
Author: Daily Cooking Quest
Cuisine: Indonesian
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 2 salam leaves (Indonesian: Indonesian bay leaves)
- 1 inch galangal (Indonesian: lengkuas), bruised
- 1 lb (450 gram) ground beef
- 1½ tablespoon sweet soy sauce (Indonesian: kecap manis)
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar (Indonesian: gula Jawa)
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- tamarind juice (from ½ tablespoon tamarind + 1½ tablespoon hot water), mix, massage, and strained
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 cup water
Grind the following into spice paste
- 75 gram shallot (Indonesian: bawang merah)
- 5 cloves garlic
- ½ tablespoon coriander powder (Indonesian: bubuk ketumbar)
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder (Indonesian: bubuk jinten)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a wok/frying pan on medium high heat, sauté spice paste, salam leaves, and galangal until fragrant. About 5 minutes.
- Add ground beef, cook until no longer pink.
- Season with sweet soy sauce, palm sugar, salt, and tamarind juice. Mix well.
- Pour in the coconut milk and water. Mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until all the sauce has been absorbed by the meat. Stir occasionally to prevent the meat from sticking to the wok/pan.
Lovely Recipe. Could not find Palm sugar but used cane sugar instead and was still amazing. Thanks for the recipe.
You are welcome John.