Lamb Tongseng

Tongseng is braised lamb cooked in spicy coconut milk that is originally from Central Java region in Indonesia. 

It was allegedly created to make the most of the goat’s meat leftovers by the goat satay sellers. After all the meat was taken for the goat satay (Sate Kambing), the rest of the meat would be used to make Gulai (goat curry) and Tongseng. 

Hence, most of the lamb satay sellers would also sell either Gulai Kambing or Tongseng Kambing. And some do all the three of them.

And this simple yet comforting dish is now one of many popular street foods in Indonesia. Well, at least across Java 😄. So, next time when you travel to the country you may come across Tongseng sellers. 

Often people enjoy this meat dish together with satay. Because as I mentioned above, most of the sellers are actually the satay sellers. So, when you buy the satay, you would be just tempted to get Tongseng as well. It’s like a part of the package 😊.

Although it was initially made with goat’s meat, now people adapted the recipe idea to cook with different meat such as beef or chicken or lamb. Therefore, you might have seen recipes for chicken tongseng, or beef tongseng. And now, I’m sharing with you the lamb tongseng recipe.

The way to enjoy Tongseng

If you want to get the real feel of Indonesian street food, you may want to have this spicy meat stew with plain white rice and lamb Satay on the side. 

I often just have it without as it is with rice without any side. 

And if I fancy having a side dish, I would make chicken satay instead, and a vegetable stir-fry.

Main ingredients

Lamb meat

You can use any part of the lamb you like. Ideally, you choose boneless meat so that you can easily cut in small pieces.

Spices and herbs

There are two types of spices you need for this recipe. One is the spices that are pounded into a paste, and the other one is the whole spices and herbs.

For the spice paste, you need an onion, garlic, ginger, candlenuts (Kemiri), turmeric powder, ground coriander, black pepper, sugar and salt.

And the extra spices and herbs you need will be Salam leaf, ginger, lemongrass, galangal and bird’s eye chillies.

Coconut milk

You can use tinned coconut milk or coconut milk powder. And if you want to, you can even make your own coconut milk. Have you ever made it before?

Here’s how to make coconut milk:

1. Grate one coconut using a grater or a food processor. Or, you can get a bag of frozen grated coconut.
2. Put into the grated coconut in a bowl and add ¼ cup of water in. Using your hand and fingers, try to rub and squeeze the coconut until you see the water turn as white as milk.
3. Then lightly take a handful of coconut and squeeze it over a sieve with a clean bowl underneath. Put the squeezed coconut in another empty and clean bowl. Do the same to the rest of the coconut.
4. When you finish squeezing the milk out of the coconut, repeat the step 2-3 for about 3-4 times until the water squeezed out of the coconut becomes clear and transparent. 

Cabbage

You will need white cabbage. Although I don’t see anything wrong with using different types of cabbages such as red cabbage, savoy cabbage, or pointed cabbage. 

But I personally would recommend staying away from red cabbage for this dish. Simply because of the purple colour of the vegetable can make your Tongseng look unappealing. 

Tomatoes

Two medium-sized tomatoes are more than enough for this recipe. But if you only have other tomatoes such as cherry tomatoes or plum tomatoes, don’t worry. You can use those little tomatoes and still make a delicious Tongseng. 

Just cut the fruits in big chunks.

Spring onions

You only need a few stalks of spring onions/ scallions that you slice and add in the meat stew towards the end of cooking.

Sweet soy sauce

Since it’s an Indonesian dish, I think you should use Indonesian sweet soy sauce. I have used non-Indonesian sweet soy sauce in the past to make Indonesian foods. I must say the results were not what I expected. The flavour is just different from what Indonesian sweet soy sauce has to offer. 

Fried onions (optional)

A scatter of fried onions before serving will make your dish taste even more delicious. But don’t fret if you don’t have it or don’t want to go to any trouble frying the onions yourself.

You will still have a tasty Tongseng 😉.

How to cook Tongseng

Essentially, there are two parts of the dish that you need to prepare, the meat and the sauce. Just like the way Tongseng sellers do. 

First, you prepare the meat by boiling it with some herbs until the meat is tender.

Secondly, you make the sauce by pounding some spices and herbs into a paste. Then fry the spice paste and some other whole spice until it is flagrantly cooked before you add in the water.

Thirdly, you put the meat in the sauce together with the vegetables and coconut milk towards the end. 

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Lamb Tongseng

Yield: 2

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Tongseng is braised lamb cooked in coconut milk with sweet soy sauce. This comforting dish is originally from Central Java, Indonesia. It tastes sweet-savoury with spicy coconut milk that will spoil your tastebud.

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Ingredients

• 300 gr/ 21 oz Lamb, cubed.
• 2 Salam leaves.
• 2.5 cm/ 1-inch ginger root.
• 4 cups/ 960 ml/ 33.78 fl oz water.
• 2 lemongrass, cut in 1-inch lengths.
• 1 cm/ ½ inch galangal.
• 2-3 red bird's eye chillies (optional).
• 2 spring onions, sliced.
• 2 medium tomatoes, cut in chunks.
• 2 tbsp cooking oil.
• 500 ml/ 16.91 fl.oz coconut milk
• 100 gr/ 1.76 oz. Cabbage.
• 1 ½ tbsp sweet soy sauce.
• Spices to pound:
• 4 cloves garlic.
• 1 red onion.
• 3 Candlenuts (Kemiri).
• ½ tsp turmeric powder.
• 1 cm/ 0.5 inch ginger.
• 1 tsp ground coriander.
• 1 ½ tsp salt.
• ½ tsp black pepper.
• ½ tsp sugar.
• Optional :
• Fried onions.
• Crackers.

Instructions

Using a pestle and mortar, or a food processor, grind the spices to pound into a paste. Set aside. 

Rub the meat with ½ teaspoon of salt and black pepper respectively. Boil the meat in 3 cups of water together with ½ inch of ginger, 1 lemongrass and 1 salam leaf. Cook until the meat is tender. Then drain and discard the water. Set aside. 

In a wok or a cooking pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and fry the pounded spice paste, lemongrass, salam leaf, galangal, ginger until it releases aroma. 

Then add in the meat pieces, sweet soy sauce and 1 cup of water. Give it a stir and let it cook at medium heat.

Once the water boils and simmer for a minute or two, put the cabbage, tomato, spring onion and chillies in. Cook further for another 2-3 minutes.

Add the coconut milk in, stir your Tongseng and leave it to cook and simmer at low heat for a few minutes before you turn the heat off. 

Notes

• Some meat can be tough and take time to cook. So you can use a pressure cooker to shortcut the time if you wish. 
• You can skip the bird’s eye chillies if you don’t have any. 
• If you like your Tongseng to be spicy, you can put a teaspoon of chilli powder. 
• You can also sprinkle lime juice over your Tongseng to give extra tangy flavour just like what you may get from the real Tongseng sellers in Indonesia. 

Nutrition Information

Yield 3 Serving Size 1 Amount Per Serving Calories 3503Total Fat 343gSaturated Fat 262gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 60gCholesterol 192mgSodium 1868mgCarbohydrates 72gFiber 6gSugar 12gProtein 80g

The nutrition calculation you find here is just a guide provided by online nutrition calculator. You should not use to substitute advice from nutritionists or health practitioners.

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Related posts

Thank you for reading this recipe. I hope you’re now inspired to try it. If you do, please let me know what you think about it in the comments below. It will be awesome if you can also share the picture of your created Tongseng. Or, you can tag me on Instagram and pin me on Pinterest @soyummyrecipesbydevy, when you share your cooking.

Before you go, don’t forget to check my other recipes for more inspo for your next dinner 😊.

• The real Indonesian beef Rendang – simply authentic.
• The best Indonesian sweet soy chicken – Ayam Kecap Manis.
• Indonesian chicken wonton – Pangsit Ayam.
• Nasi Goreng Tuna – Indonesian tuna fried-rice.
• Indonesian fried chicken – Ayam Goreng Bumbu.
• Ikan Pesmol – Indonesian fish dish in yellow pickled spices.

Thank you and all the best.