Dendeng pedas ('hot' fried beef)

Yield: 6 Servings

1 kg (2 lb) topside (beef) MMMMM--------------------------MARINADE-------------------------------      1 tb Olive oil
1/2 ts Black pepper      1 tb Dark soya sauce MMMMM---------------------------BUMBU--------------------------------
10 Shallots      4 Red chillis (or 2 tbs -Sambal Ulek)
2 tb Vegetable oil Salt      1 tb Lemon or fresh lime juice

* Cut the beef fairly thin and trim it into small square pieces. Marinate it for 1 hour or longer. Remember that pedas=hot++spicy hot! This is fried beef with a robust flavour of chilli. Slice the shallots finely. Seed and slice the chillis. Fry them in a tablespoonful of oil in a wok stirring all the time until they are golden brown. Add salt to taste. Keep hot. Put a tablespoonful of oil in a thick frying-pan and fry the slices of meat a few at a time. Three minutes on each side will be ample*. When all the pieces are cooked put them into the wok with the shallots and chilli. Heat and mix well. Sprinkle over the mixture 1 tablespoonful of lemon juice or better still fresh lime juice. Stir and add more salt if necessary. Serve hot with rice. * NOTE: In Indonesia the meat is usually fried until crisp. You can even buy sun-dried dendeng which only needs coating with bumbu and frying. Crisp dendeng can be rather tough and I prefer it as described above; however a purist might say that my recipe is not 'genuinely' Indonesian. Makes 6 servings. From "Indonesian Food and Cookery" Sri Owen Prospect Books London 1986." ISBN 0-907325-29-7. Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; March 1 1993.