Tongseng: braised lamb in spicy coconut milk with sweet soy sauce from Java, Indonesia

Meat, cabbage and tomatoes braised in spicy coconut milk and drizzled with sweet soy sauce, that is what Tongseng is about. 

Tongseng

It’s fragrant and comfortingly delicious to enjoy with hot plain white rice.

This simple yet tasty dish is originally from Central Java, Indonesia. It was allegedly created by the goat satay sellers to make the most of the goat’s meat leftovers.

After all the meat was taken for the goat satay (Sate Kambing), the rest of the meat would be used to make Gulai Kambing  (goat curry) and Tongseng Kambing. 

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 the 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 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.

Meat Variety

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. 

Therefore, you might have seen recipes for chicken Tongseng, or beef Tongseng. 

And the recipe I’m sharing with you here is lamb Tongseng recipe. Simply because here in the UK lamb is easier to get than the goat. 

But really both types of meat are very similar to one another in taste and texture. So you’re more than welcome to use any red meat you like such as beef, goat, lamb or mutton.

Main ingredients

Essentially, you need 7 types of ingredients to make this lamb stewed in coconut milk.

They are meat, coconut milk, spices and herbs, cabbage, tomatoes, spring onions, and sweet soy sauce. 

However, for the spices and herbs, you will need onion, garlic, ginger, candlenuts (Kemiri), turmeric powder, ground coriander, black pepper, sugar, salt, Salam leaf, ginger, lemongrass, galangal and bird’s eye chillies.

And optionally, you will want to sprinkle crispy fried onions just before serving the dish. So it will taste and smell even better. 

How to cook Tongseng

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. 

If you think the meat that you choose is a bit tough, you can boil it in a pressure cooker to save time. Just make sure you don’t overcook it so the meat won’t break or become too soft.

Once the meat is thoroughly cooked, drain its boiling water and set aside.

Secondly, you make the sauce by pounding some spices and herbs into a paste. 

Then fry the spice paste in a large cooking pan and add the rest of the whole spices. 

Fry until it releases a nice aroma before you add the meat. 

Once the meat is in, let it cook for about five minutes so it can absorb the spices then add the sweet soy sauce and a cup of water. Give it a stir and cook further at medium-high heat with the lid on. 

Thirdly, add the cabbage, tomatoes, spring onions, chillies and coconut milk. Continue cooking until the sauce reaches the boiling point again. Let it simmer at low heat until the coconut milk looks thicker and shiny with a little oil separating from the edges.

The way to enjoy Tongseng

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

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

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

More Indonesian meat dishes

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. I will really appreciate it.

And please follow me on Facebook, Instagram and/or Pinterest. To sneak a peek at what’s cooking in my kitchen. 

Before you go, don’t forget to check my other Indonesian meat dish 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 fried chicken – Ayam Goreng Bumbu.
• Ayam Suwir Bumbu Bali – Balinese spicy shredded chicken. 

Thank you and all the best.