Gulai Nangka Muda (Young Jack Fruit Curry)

Young jack fruit curry, or Gulai Nangka, is a typical Minang (West Sumatera) dish, that you find easily in every Padang Restaurant, all over the world (i heard that there is a special Minang/Padang restaurant in the US, so i think that they must have this savory curry on their menu!). And it should be the cheapest meal in every Padang restaurant, since my stingy colleague in Jakarta always ordered this curry to go with the white rice and sayur daun singkong (steamed casava leaves), taken into consideration that vegetables are always free in every Restaurant Padang (yea that filthy bastard loaded his plate with many other side dishes if it was the boss who paid the meal - just until they almost fell out from the plate).

I made this curry a bit "raw" (in therm of: i did it my way my rebel way), using more than just tetelan (fatty part of meat) but opt in for the real deal: the beef meat itself. I was generous on putting french beans and (curly) cabbage inside the big cocotte, and i used only light coconut milk (condensed one is strongly advised since it will give tastier effect - warning warning danger for your health!).

Ingredients:

• Meat, cut in bits
• 3 sheets of curly cabbage, cut out the hard part, cut lengthy (i just cut it raw... no precise form, utterly unmannered me!)
• 400 gr long beans cut 3 cm length each time
• 1 Lemongrass, crushed
• 2 Kaffir leaves
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp tumeric powder
• 1 tsp curcuma powder
• Water to boil meat
• 1 tsp of Ghee / vegetable oil
• salt
• pepper
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 1 can of young jack fruit

Ground spices:

• 4 shallots
• 2 garlic
• lots of chilli

Method:

1. In a big cocotte (cooking pot), boil the meat until tender and water is greatly reduced
2. Sauté the ground spices and other spices.
3. Combine the sauté spieces to the boiled meat in the cocotte, add the coconut milk
4. add the vegetables, cook until tender according to your liking.