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Opor

Full List of Ingredients
Spice Mix #1
Spice Mix #2
Spice Mix #3
Method

Full List of Ingredients

750g of beef, mutton or chicken
3 tablespoons coriander
2 teaspoons aniseed
1 teapsoon cumin
7cm stick cinnamon bark
8 cloves
1 star anise
9 cardamom seeds
1 quarter nutmeg kernel
1 half tablespoon black pepper
4 tablespoons desiccated coconut
8 dried chillies
20 fennel seeds
50g fresh ginger
1 dessertspoon salt
1 dessertspoon sugar
8 medium onions
2 cloves garlic
I stalk lemon grass
2 tablespoons ghee
2 tablespoons peanut oil
400-600ml of water or stock
200ml thick coconut milk
1 lime
poppy seed flour or cornflour, if desired

Spice Mix #1Back to top

1. Coriander, 3 tablespoons
2. Aniseed, 2 teaspoons
3. Cumin, 1 teapsoon
4. Cinnamon Bark, 4cm stick
5. Cloves, 6
6. Star Anise, half a fruit
7. Cardamom, 6 seeds
8. Nutmeg, quarter of a kernel
9. Black Pepper, half a tablespoon

Spice Mix #2Back to top

10. Desiccated coconut, 4 tablespoons fried brown in a dry pan
11. Dried chillies, 8 with seeds removed
12. Ginger, 30g
13. Onion, 1
14. Garlic, 2 cloves
15. Lemon grass, 1 stalk

Spice Mix #3Back to top

16. Onion, 1 tablespoon, thinly sliced
17. Ginger, half a tablespoon, shredded
18. Fennel, 20 seeds
19. Cinnamon, 3cm stick
20. Cloves, 2
21. Cardomom, 3 seeds
22. Star Anise, half a fruit

MethodBack to top

Cut the meat into about 8 pieces.
Divide each of items 1-9 into two equal parts and mix each series to give two equal mixed groups. One group is ground as such and made into a thick paste. The other group is fried in a dry pan over a slow fire until quite brittle, then ground to a find powder.
Items 10-15 are to be ground to a paste.
Mix all the above ingredients together with the pieces of meat.
Mix 2 tablespoons of ghee with 2 tablespoons of oil and heat on a medium fire. Throw in the unground spices (items 16-22) and stir until the onion is brown and crisp. Then add the meat and spices which have already been mixed. Cover and cook gently for 3 minutes, them continue with stirring until the oil starts to separate from the spices. Then add 400-600ml of water or stock and cook until the meat is tender. Salt to taste - about a dessertspoonful - and a dessertspoonful sugar.
Add 200ml thick coconut milk and 4 to 6 medium sized onions, split into four at their tops. Cook a further 10 minutes or so, add the lime juice to taste. Serve.
To thicken the curry the Malays use poppy seed flour. If you want to thicken it, try cornflour instead. Alternatively, the minimum amount of liquid is added and the cooking, in an open pot, proceeds until the gravy is quite dry and merely coats the meat. This is usually done with cubes of meat for "dry beef curry".

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