Deborah adapted this recipe from Indonesian beef semur, which itself is an influence on beef smore, a common Eurasian dish in Malaysia and Singapore. Semur is thought to come from the Dutch word smoren, which means to stew or braise. Tongue is a special occasion food in her family, often served on Christmas or for Saturday dinners after sunset mass.
Tableware by Ilham Ceramic Studio.
Eurasian braised tongue
by Deborah Germaine AugustinDeborah adapted this recipe from Indonesian beef semur, which itself is an influence on beef smore, a common Eurasian dish in Malaysia and Singapore. Semur is thought to come from the Dutch word smoren, which means to stew or braise. Tongue is a special occasion food in her family, often served on Christmas or for Saturday dinners after sunset mass.
Tableware by Ilham Ceramic Studio.
Servings: 10
Prep time: Slightly involved
Servings: 10
Prep time: Slightly involved
Ingredients
1 beef tongue, washed clean (see Tips for notes on preparing tongue for cooking)
BRAISING SAUCE:
4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp thick sweet soy sauce or kecap manis
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 large yellow onion, peeled and thickly sliced
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
400ml warm water
1 beef stock cube
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
Electric pressure cooker
Directions
- In a large bowl, dissolve the beef stock cube in the warm water. Add all other braising sauce ingredients.
- Place the tongue or tongue piece in an electric pressure cooker. Pour the braising sauce over the tongue. It should come up to at least halfway up the sides of the tongue.
- If your pressure cooker has a ‘meat’ setting or equivalent, select that setting and set the time for 60 minutes. If not, select the high pressure setting for the same amount of time.
- The tongue is done when the skin of the tongue begins to peel off on its own.
- To serve, peel the rest of the skin off the tongue and slice it into pieces about 1cm thick. Serve with the braising sauce over rice or eat as a taco filling alongside a simple salsa of tomatoes, coriander leaves, red onion, and lemon juice.
Tips
- Tongue comes in various weights depending on the size. This recipe will work for tongues up to about 1.6kg.
- Cooking time depends on the thickness and weight of the tongue. To help it cook evenly, slice the tongue into large chunks of roughly equal size, about 400-500g each, and continue at step 2.
- Tongue will have a tough skin on its surface. This can be treated in a couple of ways after trimming off the excess fat at the base:
- Wash the tongue as clean as possible and cook it skin-on. Peel it after the tongue has been cooked in step 5.
- Wash the tongue clean, and cook in rapidly boiling water for about 15 minutes. Strain out the tongue and trim the skin off (you may find some parts are easy to peel). Then continue cooking at step 2.
- In the unlikely event that the tongue is still too tough after the end of the pressure cooking cycle, continue cooking it in 10-minute increments.
Ingredients
1 beef tongue, washed clean (see Tips for notes on preparing tongue for cooking)
BRAISING SAUCE:
4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp thick sweet soy sauce or kecap manis
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 large yellow onion, peeled and thickly sliced
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
400ml warm water
1 beef stock cube
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
Electric pressure cooker
Directions
- In a large bowl, dissolve the beef stock cube in the warm water. Add all other braising sauce ingredients.
- Place the tongue or tongue piece in an electric pressure cooker. Pour the braising sauce over the tongue. It should come up to at least halfway up the sides of the tongue.
- If your pressure cooker has a ‘meat’ setting or equivalent, select that setting and set the time for 60 minutes. If not, select the high pressure setting for the same amount of time.
- The tongue is done when the skin of the tongue begins to peel off on its own.
- To serve, peel the rest of the skin off the tongue and slice it into pieces about 1cm thick. Serve with the braising sauce over rice or eat as a taco filling alongside a simple salsa of tomatoes, coriander leaves, red onion, and lemon juice.
Tips
- Tongue comes in various weights depending on the size. This recipe will work for tongues up to about 1.6kg.
- Cooking time depends on the thickness and weight of the tongue. To help it cook evenly, slice the tongue into large chunks of roughly equal size, about 400-500g each, and continue at step 2.
- Tongue will have a tough skin on its surface. This can be treated in a couple of ways after trimming off the excess fat at the base:
- Wash the tongue as clean as possible and cook it skin-on. Peel it after the tongue has been cooked in step 5.
- Wash the tongue clean, and cook in rapidly boiling water for about 15 minutes. Strain out the tongue and trim the skin off (you may find some parts are easy to peel). Then continue cooking at step 2.
- In the unlikely event that the tongue is still too tough after the end of the pressure cooking cycle, continue cooking it in 10-minute increments.
