Clean, cut the beef cube or shank. Put in pressure cooker, add 2 litres of water and cook for 15-30 mins (beef shank 15 mins, beef cube 30 mins). Set aside.
Prepare the rest of the ingredients, wash clean and cut accordingly
Heat some oil in a frying pan, stir fry the shallot and garlic until fragrant and turn translucent. Add chillies, bay leaves, galangal. Continue cooking for few more minutes.
Add the stir fried chillies/shallots/garlics to the beef soup. Turn on the fire again, add sweet soya sauce, brown sugar, salt, pepper, sugar. Add french beans and carrot, cook until soften. Lastly add the green tomatoes and tamarind juice. Cook for a few more minutes. I dont cook the tomatoes until too soft/mushy.
Taste, add any seasoning as needed. The soup will be a mixture of sour, spicy, sweet and salty at the same time. So refreshing
Serve with warm rice
For me: at step 4, once I cook the shallots/garlics/chillies in the soup for a few minutes, I will take the chillies out from the soup and put them in separate bowl. Why? Because the longer you cook the chillies, the spicier your soup will be. And as I am cooking for the whole family, I dont want the soup to be too spicy for my kids. We will add the chillies back before serving in our individual bowl.
