Monday, November 17, 2008

Indonesian Ox Tongue & Brisket Stew - Semur Lidah & Daging


I've been hearing the magical power of pressure cooker for the longest time. Reducing 3 hours cooking time to just 20 minutes?! Wow!!! Is it for real?!! Now I don't have to spend my whole afternoon checking out my stove every 15 minutes? and I will be able to enjoy yummy stew dishes on weekdays??? Gosh, I thought such miracles only happens in (my friend's imaginary) culinary heaven...

So, the moment I heard about a major sale in a famous department store,
SOGO (of which I have HK$200 cash coupons hehe), I wasted no time and marched straight to kitchen appliances floor, ignoring floor after floor of gorgeous clothes, bags, shoes, scents and jewelries, which were all on sale, and practically calling my name, enticing, pleading, begging me to check them out and buy them. Boy! It was the hardest thing I had to do...even harder than my post graduate examinations.

Once I got to the floor, I managed to ignore all the kitchen appliances demonstrations , despite my obvious, palpable attraction to them (I learnt my lesson well ^_*), and found Tefal's Clipso Basic Pressure Cooker. It is a beauty. It's love at first sight. I know all pressure cookers from famous brands probably perform very similarly, reducing cooking time, durable, blablablah...So what made me choose this baby?
- The small volume is just right for my household
- The foldable handles (I have a thing for two ear handles instead of just one long handle) fits my non existent space perfectly
- The price (at HK$1071 - about USD137-after discount, it was the cheapest among all famous branded pressure cookers)
......and the fact that I saw Jamie Oliver on the brochure. Hehe.
So much for my decision making wisdom :p

As expected, it's gonna be damn hard not to de-virginize my pressure cooker the moment I got home. If it was my dream hunk, I'd push him through my door, rip his shirt off, and get him to unclog my plumbing and fix my washing machine (this is not a metaphor hehe). So the moment I got home, the box of the cooker was savagely torn...it underwent some serious cleaning process...and it was ready to go!

Guess which dish de-virginized my new love?

Indonesian Ox Tongue and Brisket Stew (Semur Lidah & Daging)

Recipe
- 1/2 lb beef brisket
- 1 small ox tongue
- 1 large potatoes, cut into bite sized chunks
- about 8 cm ginger, crushed
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 1 cup chicken stock/chicken stock cube/powder/or just plain water
- Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), or you can use palm sugar/brown sugar
- salt, white pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg
- crispy shallot and mint leaves (as garnish/optional)

Rinse brisket and ox tongue, cook in boiling water and half of the crushed ginger for about 10 minutes, drain, set aside. This way, you will get rid some of the excess fat, after boiling, trim excess fat further with scissors if necessary. Saute onion and ginger until fragrant, throw in garlic, then diced tomatoes, ox tongue, brisket, salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, kecap manis (until it looks a bit dark), add water/chicken stock just to cover everything.

If you are using a pressure cooker, put the pressure cooker lid,set to "cooking meat" and cook for 20 minutes, release steam, take lid off, throw in the potatoes, cook until potatoes softened, adjust seasoning.

If you are not using a pressure cooker, use a bit more water/stock, cook with low heat for about 2-3 hours, checking from time to time, add liquid when necessary, until the meat gets tender and the sauce thickened, adjust seasoning.

Cut ox tongue into about 1 cm thick pieces, cut beef brisket to 5 cm long pieces, garnish with crispy shallot and mint leaves. Serve with steamed rice.

A friend of mine asked if the pressure cooker could shorten a 5 days work to just 1 day work...yeah, right! We wish!

19 comments:

  1. The way it is cut (2nd pix), looks like pieces of chocolate cakes!

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  2. Cheapest and Jamie Oliver would probably have clinched it for me too. ;)

    Ox tongue in 20 minutes? See, I'm starting to wonder if I should get a pressure cooker too. What a lovely meal.

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  3. Rit, aku juga pake panci press ini, biasanya aku pake buat masak rendang, bubur kacang ijo, semur dll. Oh ya kamu mau bumbu rendang yg ready made merk "Munik", aku dibawain dari indo, kalo mau emailin aku ya!

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  4. I will go for brisket stew, but ox tongue, I don't know. :P

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  5. Congratulations on finally getting your pressure cooker! I'm still a little nervous around them.

    This dish looks great, and I'm not a huge fan of tongue. I do know someone who's been looking for a recipe, though, so I'm sending this to her.

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  6. I find my pressure cooker an invaluable tool in the kitchen. Glad you discovered it.

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  7. Once again, hilarious!

    "unclog my plumbing and fix my washing machine (this is not a metaphor hehe)"

    LOL.

    And yes, we've been hearing and hearing about the wonders of pressure cookers and are very near the verge of actual purchase. =D

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  8. iyaaaah..pokoknya pressure cooker itu penemuan ajaib buat gue hehehe.. biasa berlama2 di dapur, jadi akhir nya bisa berlama2 di mall hihihi..

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  9. thanks for commenting guys ^_^

    tigerfish...hehe yeah i like biting into thick, succulent piece of tongue kekeke

    js and ts...you guys are soooo hilarious! kekeke, pleaseeee run to the nearest store and grab a pressure cooker, it is priceless!

    sefa, hihi semoga awet ya panci presto daku

    hi ther, merk munik ya...coba aku cari2 di toko2 sini ada ga...

    locm & fearless kitchem, i hv many friends who used to hate ox tongue...until they try one cooked in butter and black pepper..and fell in love with it...wud you give it another try? hehe

    hi cynthia & fitri! yeah, pressure cookers rock!

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  10. Congrats on your purchase! I still need to get one of these someday. What an interesting recipe you chose, or at least interesting compared to what I'm used to in the States.

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  11. kagak punyaaaaaa pressure cooker Rittttttt... tapi mau itu lidah

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  12. semur lidah emang enak tp kl kebanyakan jd mbleneg ya hehe.... mendingan brisketnya dweh slurup.....

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  13. Ox tonnguuee ^^! Hee hee I like how u made them thick juicy cuts yummmmmm.

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  14. I've been hankering for a pressure cooker for ages but the $$$ and the space for ANOTHER pot!

    and no pron for the new hunk o' steel in action? ;)

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  15. I love my pressure cooker too! great post!

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  16. hehee. Now I want a pressure cooker too! That is really quick cooking!

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  17. I like your friends sense of humour! hahaha! My MIL uses the pressure cooker to steam her bakchang .. so we have delicious bak chang is a very short time too.

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  18. You de-virginized you pressure cooker with some tongue? Damn, that sounded dirty. :-P

    Very very nice, Rita! You definitely can cook.

    By the way i went to that same department store, same floor last time i was in HK.. to buy some pans for a tasting i had to do. I love that place. :-)

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