Popular beef curry in Penang for Nasi Kandar (hawker food)

What is Daging Masak Hitam?

If I were to literally translate Daging masak hitam, it would be Beef curry in black sauce.

Daging masak hitam is actually beef curry cooked in spices, curry powder and a generous amount of  sweet soy sauce is used in cooking the dish.

How to describe the taste Daging masak hitam in words?
Spicy, sweet and delicious!


 

How to Cook Daging Masak Hitam?

Printable recipe is at the bottom of this page.

However, a quick preview on how to cook is as below

 
1. Curry powder, garam masala, aromatic spices
 
2. Lemongrass, pandan leaves, curry leaves

What type of beef is best used for Daging Masak Hitam?

Gravy beef or casserole beef or beef that you need to stew for at least 1 hour is the best cut to use.

 
3. Ingredients to cook Daging Masak hitam (full list at the bottom of the post)
 

What's best to serve Daging masak hitam with?

Steam rice or savoury rice would be excellent to serve Daging masak hitam with.

You also enjoy daging masak hitam with Roti paratha (roti canai)

Can I freeze Daging masak hitam?

Yes.

Keep Daging masak hitam in an airtight container (those cheap takeaway container), labelled and date them.

Daging masak hitam is best eaten within 3 months (if frozen)

Thaw in the fridge overnight and either thoroughly heat up on stove or microwave.

 

Other Beef Recipes that you may wish to try 

Easy peasy beef rendang cooked using Instant Pot
Beef stroganoff in slow cooker
Beef satay with peanut sauce

Can I cook Daging masak hitam in a Pressure cooker?

Yes you can.

It is much faster to cook daging masak hitam in a pressure cooker whilst still retaining the flavour.

Watch the video below for cooking daging masak hitam in pressure cooker.

Video Cooking Beef Curry | Daging Masak Hitam in an Instant Pot

 



Food bring back sweet and at times bittersweet memories.

The current blogging world is changing, no one loves to read about one story anymore, especially when one is making food that is dear to one's heart.
Everyone seems to be in a rush to appreciate little things, little pleasure in life anymore.

So I will keep my little journal here...

This is What I wrote on 23rd January 2015.

It for me to read, weep and cherish the memories while this heart is missing my beloved parents who had pass on.

Famous Beef curry cooked in sweet soy sauce or famously known as Daging Masak Hitam

Have you had that feeling... 
when some songs were playing on the radio, a feeling that reeled you to your past?
You can remember that exact moment; what you were doing, who you were with... back then?
I had many of that moments...

Apart from songs, food has the same effect... with every bite I take, I am connected to my past!!!


...just like this Daging Masak Hitam (Beef curry cooked with sweet soy sauce)...
...the taste took me back to my younger self.

With every bite, I could almost hear my dad asking "Nak makan apa esok pagi" (translate : What would you like to have for breakfast tomorrow?), his standard question, even though he already knew my answer to his question.
My reply... "Nasi mamak, lauk daging masak hitam" (translate: I want rice** with beef curry in sweet soy sauce....."
**Having rice for breakfast is a norm from where I come from.

He'd be up early, before call for morning prayers could be heard, ready and dressed. I'd be up too, with my sleepy face, plonked my cushy rear end on the hard chair at the dinner table... just before he headed out of the house to the nearby mosque, he'd turned around and asked again "Nasi mamak, lauk daging masak hitam?", making sure I didn't change my mind overnight. I nodded.  I could hear him riding his motorbike into the crisp cool morning breeze.

As the sun slowly rising accompanied by birds chirping merrily, I heard a familiar sound; sound of motorbike!!!
Yes, dad's home! with my breakfast, my mom's, his and whoever happened to be home at that time :D

My 'rice and beef' breakfast packed and wrapped in newspaper with elastic band around it, was within reach....I was salivating!!! The aroma could almost knock me off my chair ;P
...my favourite breakfast, the one I had been having since I was little, Nasi mamak, lauk daging masak hitam, the one that my dad used to buy for me from the same shop, same vendor eversince he himself was a young lad... 

Nothing last forever...
Last breakfast, he ever bought me, was in 2009, the year I was back visiting, the year before he took a tumble thus took a toll on his health, the year before he had to move away from the house he built with his hard earned money, lived in it most of his life with happy, sad memories intertwined... the year before sickness that robbed him of his strength and vigour!!!

I'll never forget...
The joy, happiness by my parents' side
...if I could, I'd catch that moment put it in a jar... to cherish that precious memories forever.



Since his passing, I thought that I could no longer have my 'Daging Masak hitam/ Beef Curry with Sweet Soy Sauce... till I stumbled upon this recipe circulating via Facebook.

Wanting to try it out, so I printed out the recipe, and started buying and gathering all ingredients (long list of ingredients...), and of course when it comes to laborious work, H took over the reign.

One bite... One taste
I was reeled back to that particular moment at my parents' house...
I could almost see him sitting across the table, enjoying his roti canai, and my mom sitting on my right, having her breakfast and handful of medications afterwards, and me with my packet of "Nasi mamak, lauk daging masak hitam"