Rendang Padang (Indonesian Coconut Beef Curry)

Ingredients:
1 kg beef stew
750 ml coconut milk
3 kaffir lime leaves
2 stalks lemon grass, trimmed and bruised
2 cm ginger, bruised
3 tbs cooking oil
Dash of sugar

Spice paste:
2 tbs cooking oil
500g shallots
2 tsp galangal powder
6 cloves of garlic
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
2 red chillies or more
1 tbs tamarind paste
Salt and pepper

• In a food processor, puree all the spice paste ingredients until smooth.
• Preheat 3 tbs of cooking oil in a large cooking pan over medium heat, add spice paste puree, lime leaves, ginger, lemon grass and cook it until fragrant. Add the coconut milk, stir constantly until its boiling. Stir in the beef and mix it until well combined, reduce the heat to low and cook it for about 3 hours or until 3/4 of the sauce is gone and the meat turned into darker colour. Stir occasionally for the first hours and once the sauce is thickened stir frequently to prevent burning (for drier result just add the cooking time). Adjust seasoning and add a dash of sugar.
• Remove the lemon grass, ginger, lime leaves. Serve the beef rendang with steamed rice and sambal lado mudo.