Gulai Cancang Kambing (West Sumatran Lamb Curry)

>> THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2008

First of all, thanks for your comments though I wrote nothing but sighing for missing all words I've written. It was because something
crash in the program that I have to shutdown the computer before I saved the post.

I know that I supposed to rewrite them yesterday, but I was outside meeting some old friends and came back home tired. Yesterday we
had short visit from snow then rain. The weather is getting crazy and the sun is hiding behind the dark cloud all the time *sigh*. But I
am still lucky to experience the changing season every year. Thank you GOD!

When you have a chance to visit West Sumatra (or any part in Indonesia that has Padang Restaurant in the area), please don't forget to
order this meal and discover its taste yourself and believe me, you will thank me for it *winkwink*.
Gulai Cancang is a West Sumatran style of Indonesian Lamb Curry. It has a touch of West Sumatran culinary with the presence
of adas (fennel). In West Sumatran cuisine or well known as Masakan Padang(Padang food), the use of adas is very common (CMIIW)
besides coconut milk, shallot, red chili and turmeric leaf. Most of them are hot and spicy and of course yummy. Ohh.. I'm drooling over
my imagination of my mom's foods and Padang restaurant near our home.

FYI, Padang is the capital city of West Sumatra province, that's why people tends to say Masakan Padang to all foods originally from any
part of West Sumatra. This phenomenon is similar as calling Levi's to all jeans or Indomie (in Indonesia) to all instant noodles. Do you
have any other example in your country?

As I mentioned before in this recipe, kambing is translated as goat, but since in Germany lamb meat is preferable than goat meat
(mutton) and because I used lamb instead of mutton, so I will always translatekambing into lamb every time I wrote you a recipe using
mutton. Some people doesn't like mutton or lamb, so they preferred to make gulai cancang from beef. Both are possible, since the West
Sumatran also used both meat alternately. It solely depends on your taste, which one you like best. So far I've never heard of any using
chicken, but if you want to try, why not?

Gulai is any kind of dishes cooked in spicy coconut milk and it's very popular in West Sumatran cuisine (this is the answer why most of
the West Sumatran has problem with their cholesterol content)and cancang means chop. So I can describe it as chop meat cooked in
spicy coconut oil.

It was my first try after keeping the recipe from last Summer while my mom's here. Though the first attempt and modified the
ingredients according to my kitchen supplies, the taste was perfect. We ate it with Arabic bread as some people in West Sumatra also
ate it with the bread.
By the way, normally the meat part using for this gulai is the one has more fat. To get the best taste, you need two days of preparation
times. I substituted some fresh spices with powder.

Gulai Cancang Kambing (West Sumatran Lamb Curry)

Recipe adapted from my mom

Ingredients:
1 kg lamb
500 ml coconut milk
2 big size potato, peeled, cubed
1 tomato, sliced (optional)
3 shallots, finely sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 stalk of lemongrass, bruised
Sugar to taste (not using in original recipe)
Water as needed
Vegetable oil
Spices, puree:
3 shallots
4 cloves of garlic
7 red chilies (can be adjusted)
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp adas (fennel) powder
½ tsp white pepper powder
1 tsp nutmeg powder
2 of each cardamon, cloves, candle nut (kemiri)
1 knucklebone of ginger
1 tsp galangal powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp tamarind juice
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat oil in a medium wok. Sauté shallots until fragrant. Add ground spices, lemongrass and cinnamon stick. Sauté until fragrant.
2. Fold in lamb meat. Sauté until the color is change. Add water and continue cooking over medium heat until water all evaporated.
3. Turn of the heat and let it stand overnight to let the spices well absorbed.
4. The next day. Re-sauté and add more water. Cook until water evaporated.
5. Add coconut milk. Cook over small heat until meat become tender. Add potato and continue cooking until set.
6. Add tomato and mix for a while. Remove from the heat.