Dendeng balado

What makes it dendeng balado

• Beef cut thin across the grain, dried or boiled before it's fried.
• Fried until crisp and dark.
• A coarse sambal of red chilli and shallot, often sharpened with lime.

Where it comes from

Dendeng is preserved meat — sliced thin, seasoned and dried in the sun — a way of keeping beef that suits a cooking built around food that lasts. Balado means cooked with lado, chilli: the crisp slices go into a red sambal fried in plenty of oil.

On a Padang table it sits beside the rendang and the gulai, and it's often the first dish people point at.

How it varies

Dendeng batokok

Boiled, beaten flat, then grilled — softer, and often under green chilli.