Recipe for Coto Makassar

By titiw • translated by dak4 • January 15, 2008 - http://www.titiw.com/2008/01/15/resep-coto-makassar/

Coto Makassar is a traditional stew from South Sulawesi, specifically the city of Makassar, my hometown. The one who usually makes this in my house is "Papah" (her husband or father most likely). He does it pretty good. Typically made for Lebaran (Eid al Fitr) or Lebaran Haji (Eid al Adha). Why is it called Coto? (Usually in Indonesia soup or stew is called "soto" or "sop".) Yes, it is spelled with a C, not an S. Why C? Because soto is made from beef (daging sapi), Coto is made from capi (not a real thing - joke works much better in Indonesian.) Anyway, no need to fuss, lets get started !

Ingredients:
1 kg of beef shank part (the butcher can help you find good stewing meat)
½ kg lung (fried, crumbled, and set aside) - optional
2 liter water, preferrably the starchy water from rincing the rice
5 lemongrass, crushed
5 Indonesian bay leaves (daun salam or alam leaf)
250 grams of raw red peanuts, fried, crushed
3 tablespoons cooking oil, for sauteing
5 cm ginger, crushed (about the size of a thumb)
1 segment galangal, crushed (between the natural lines, perhaps 1 or 2 cm)

Note: optionally 300 grams of boiled tripe and 300 grams of boiled beef liver. If you do want these, reduce the beef to just ½kg. But my family is carnivorous (FYI, our middle names are all SUMANTO [joke involving well known cannibal - ew]), liver and tripe don't make the cut.

Spices mashed in a mortar and pestle:
10 cloves garlic
8 roasted candlenuts
1 tbsp roasted coriander
1 tsp roasted cumin
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp peppercorn

Condiments:
fried shallots
chopped onion
chopped celery

Sambal tauco:

• Mash together 10 small shallots, 5 cloves garlic, 10 thai chilies all boiled until soft
• Pan fry 100g tauco in 6 tablespoons of cooking oil until done, add salt and palm sugar to taste.
• Mix

Preparations:

1. If you are using tripe or liver, cook separately until tender, remove, drain and dice.
2. Stew meat with starchy rice water, lemon grass, galangal, ginger, and Indonesian bay leaves. Remove, strain, cut into stew sized pieces when done.
3. Heat up oil, saute the "spices mashed in a mortar and pestle" until fragrant, add to the broth, add the fried peanuts, bring to a boil.
4. For presentation prepare a bowl, fill with meat, tripe, liver and lung that was set aside (if you are using them). Sprinkle with fried onions (super tasty!), chopped onion and celery, and serve with taoco sauce and rice "pillows" (ketupat).
5. Serve warm.

PS: add the soy sauce, salt, and fresh squeezed lime juice if necessary. Oh, yes, even better to cook with your sweetheart, let him do the cooking, and you put your feet up. Hyahahha!

Happy Cooking!

Translators note: fresh squeezed lime juice is NOT an option...