Kikil is known as one part of the cow that is commonly used as a basic ingredient for various dishes. Beef kikil is often processed into soup, a mixture of whipped noodles, curry, or even various stir-fries. After being cooked with various spices, kikil offers a delicious taste and soft and chewy texture.
Unfortunately, it takes a special technique to get a soft and chewy gravel texture. Not without reason, raw gravel tends to have a very hard texture. Therefore, gravel must be processed and boiled for quite a long time.
The problem is that the method just now is not always effective in making the gravel soft, especially if it is large and thick. Not only that, another problem when processing gravel is that there is quite a lot of mucus and dirt, which makes this food ingredient smell fishy.
No need to worry, if you want to process kikil, you can copy the tricks shared by Chef Gungun Chandra Handayana. Through his personal Instagram account, this content creator and Executive Chef at Unilever Food Solutions Indonesia revealed a kitchen ingredient , which is an important key in processing kikil.
Reported by BrilioFood from Instagram @chefgungun_handayana on Friday (19/7), the kitchen ingredient in question is baking soda. So, baking soda must be added to the gravel cooking water, because it can break down the protein which makes this food tough. Therefore, gravel can be softer and of course mucus-free.
Since it was uploaded on July 6, Chef Gungun Chandra's video has been watched more than 361 thousand times. It's not surprising that many other Instagram users also provided direct responses in the comments column. Most expressed their gratitude for gaining useful new knowledge.
"Thanks. Coincidentally, there is a chip in the freezer, let's get some gas," said Instagram @yeyet170663.
"Nuhun chef... Just happened to want to cook kikil," explained Instagram @nur_nisnaini.
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Before boiling with baking soda, there are a number of steps that need to be done first. First, place the gravel in a heat-resistant container, then cover it evenly with hot water. After that, rub it a little using chopsticks or a spoon to remove dirt and mucus stuck to the surface of the gravel.
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After that, boil water in a pan. Then add spices such as bay leaves, lemongrass, galangal, ginger and salt. When the water has boiled, add the gravel that was cleaned earlier. Then add baking soda, stir until evenly mixed.
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Next, boil and cook the kikil for 1-2 hours so that the texture is really soft and tender. While waiting, you can prepare ice water in a bowl. When the gravel is soft, immediately lift it using tongs and transfer it to a bowl filled with ice water. "After the boiling process, put the gravel in ice water so that the gravel doesn't crumble easily and remains chewy," said Chef Gungun.
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So, if you feel the kikil is cold, remove it and drain it. You can cut the gravel according to the dish you want to make. That way, the gravel remains soft, supple, but doesn't crumble easily. Not only that, the fishy smell also disappears because the mucus on the gravel is completely clean.