Daging Dendeng ( A Simple Meat Dish)

Muslims all over the world will be celebrating Eidil Adha soon. That means we would be getting an overdose of meat from the 'Qurban' done.Below is a recipe for meat.


Daging Masak Dendeng is another recipe from Negeri Sembilan. It is simple to prepare but one must do so with care that the meat is not tough. Use only lean meat. It is best to cut the meat into thin slices across the grain ( about 1/2 cm thick and 4cm x 4cm size), removing all visible fat and tough tendons.The meat is first boiled till it is tender.


The Ingredients:


500 g meat
20 small onions or shallots, sliced

3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tablespoon chilli paste
2 sticks lemon grass, grounded
50 g brown sugar
1.5 cm ginger, sliced

salt to taste
1 tablespoon tamarind juice
1 cup cooking oil


Way To Cook:

The sliced meat is fried till it is just crispy and not to overcooked.Set aside.
Stir fry the shallots till fragrant.Add ginger, garlic, lemon grass and chiili paste. Fry on gentle heat until all spices are cooked and the oil rises to the top. Add the tamarind juice, brown sugar and salt.
When everything is done, add the meat and mix well before serving. Although the dish is not too dry,the gravy must cling to the meat and not look like a curry.



Another method of preparing daging dendeng is to marinate all the ingredients with meat overnight. In this case, the ingredients must be grounded into a paste before adding the tamarind juice.If you must add salt, do it sparingly as marinated meat with salt tend to be salty as the salt assimilates into the meat over time.You can fry the marinated meat and you get the second version of daging dendeng. Make sure you do not overcook it and the meat becomes too tough.


You can eat your daging dendeng with hot boiled white rice, pilau, beriani or with cooked glutinous rice.


Daging dendeng is served not only during Eid, but also at weddings and other family feasts.It is a better way to prepare meat compared to making 'rendang' which involved using coconut milk. Even though sugar is used, you can always limit it if you use less chillies.The only unhealthy thing about this dish is that you have to fry it.