Many shades of black…

No, this post has got nothing to do with the infamous 50 shades of grey – it is all about our Sarawak’s own culinary delight – the daging masak hitam…

…literally translated as meat (beef) cooked black.

Here, we have the instant paste…

…which if I am not mistaken, is made in Miri, available at many shops and supermarkets at less than RM4.50 a tub.

I have noticed, however, that no matter what product it may be, the suggested cooking instructions and the list of ingredients…

…are all the same so one should be aware of that and not follow everything blindly.

To cook the dish, I had this imported Australian beef…

…sliced thinly and across the grain so it will not be tough and I marinated it with the instant paste.

In the meantime, I peeled and chopped one Bombay onion and bruised the ends of two serai (lemon grass) stalks…

These would be the two extra ingredients we would add whenever we use any instant paste in our cooking. That day, I also sliced some chili thinly to add to the dish for a little bit of heat. My missus is not really crazy about our daging masak hitam and my guess is it is because generally, the dish is not spicy.

I fried the onion in a bit of oil…

…before adding the lemon grass and the chili…

…after which, in went the beef…

Mix everything thoroughly and stir fry till the juices have come out of the meat so you will have a bit of sauce or gravy. You may add a bit of water if you would like more of it…and a bit of sugar if you would like it savoury sweet.

I simmered it for a while and when it was done, I dished it out…

…and served and needless to say, it was great…

…but no, it was not quite there, for want of a handful of raisins, blended and those spices that they sell in the shops for use in sup tulang (bone soup) would be an added bonus.

I did send this instant paste to Elin and also Phong Hong and I sent some to Lilian, Merryn’s mum too and Merryn said that she kept one tub for herself to try. I wonder if she has got down to it yet…