Iga (sweet and sour beef)


Hello everyone,



"Iga? is it Japanese?" that was my reaction when my wife suggested we cook this dish, I had no idea what it was or how to cook it. And therefore she wanted me to try it out; so she handled the matter herself and I assisted her behind the stoves. It really feels a bit weird when she is leading and I am following in the kitchen. I've been in command (when it comes to food) since we started to live together and suddenly she is starting to cook more and more which means I tend to cook less and less. Anyway, we're not here to discuss the fact that I am loosing ground in the kitchen to my wife.




Today's recipe is a kind of sweet and sour beef stew, but not quite the usual sweet and sour thingy in tomato sauce that you might be used to. Since it is an Indonesian recipe, and Indonesians don't like to do anything the same way as the others, this sweet and sour beef will be nothing alike whatever sweet and sour you had before (unless you actually tried it in Indonesia). For starters, where the sour is usually delivered through vinegar, Indonesian use (sometimes) belinbing asam which is a sort of mini-green eggplant that grows on some trees and taste extremely sour; probably even more sour than lemons.



Preparation: 10 mn Cooking: 50 mn Total time: 1 h
Difficulty: Very easy
Caloric intake: about 300 Kcal per portion (rice included)
Price: Cheap

A nice sweet and sour Indonesian dish that hits the spot.

Ingredients:

2 people
150 g beef
1 tomato
3 small red onions
3 long chilies (or more if you like spicy)
2 garlic cloves
4 belimbing asam (omit or adjust if you don't want your iga to be sour)
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar (omit or adjust depending on how sour you want your iga to be)
salt
pepper


Preparation:

    Step 2 
  1. Chop in bites and boil the meat for 5 mn before throwing the water and boiling it again with the pepper, this time until the beef is tender ( about 30 mn).

  2. Chop the chilies, the tomato, the onions, the garlic cloves and the belimbing asam.

  3. Fry the onions, chilies and garlic together in a wok before adding the beef and the water used to cook it.

    4. Step 3
  4. Add the belimbing asam and the leaves. Cook for 10-15 mn.

  5. Rectify the taste with some salt and brown sugar, depending on how sour you wish your iga to be.

  6. Serve with rice.


 Variations:
There are many variations of this dish, some are sweet rather than sour, some are even barbecued. Like they say "sky is the limit".

 Ideas:
I am thinking about removing the belimbing asam to make it 100% sweet and then to take the meat aside and coat it in sweet soy sauce before barbecuing it. I'd serve the broth aside. I got no idea if the result will be as expected tho.


Enjoy!
Cooking daddy

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