Although native to Indonesia, the nutmeg is not often used in cooking.
One exception is the braised meat dish known as Semur, which is generally
made with beef. This Balinese version uses ox tongue and partners the
inimitable fragrance of nut- meg with sweet soy sauce.##
2.5
litres (10 cups) water
600 g (1 1/4 lb) ox tongue, washed well
3 cups beef stock 4 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
2 tablespoons thin soy sauce
3/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 fragrant lime leaves
3 tablespoons fried shallots
3 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut in 2 cm (3/4 in) dice
fried shallots to garnish
Bring water
to the boil in. a heavy stock pot, add whole ox tongue and bring back
to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for approximately 1 hour, or until
tongue is nearly cooked. Strain stock and cool tongue down to room temperature.
Peel skin off with a sharp knife. Slice ox tongue in thin even slices
and place in saucepan. Fill up with beef stock and add both lots of
soy sauce, pepper, nutmeg, lime leaves and fried shallots. Bring to
the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add potatoes and continue
to simmer until potatoes are cooked. Garnish with fried shallots.
Helpful
flints: The flavours of this dish seem to intensify if it is
kept and reheated; add the garnish only when serving.
