Before you prep anything else, you first want to get your sliced steak into its dry-rub mix.

So, in a good size mixing bowl that’s easily large enough to hold all the steak, stir together the ground bird’s eye chilis, cumin, cilantro, nutmeg, cloves, and muscovado sugar.

Now add the sliced steak to the bowl, and use your fingers to give it a thorough coating of the sugar and spice mix.

Turn the coated steak into a colander and set it over the mixing bowl. You’ll find that some beefy juices will drain into the bowl — which is grand because that juice will later be added to your sauce — so do not discard those juices.

Set the lot aside while you prep the rest of the ingredients — slicing the onion and garlic, grating the ginger, and dissolving the tamarind paste in boiling water. Once that’s done, you can start quickly browning the slices of steak in a big, heavy-based skillet. I used a deep-sided,12-inch cast iron skillet for this. That’s ideal because you can cook your entire dendeng sapi manis in a skillet of that size.

Set your skillet on a high heat and add the coconut oil. You want to heat the oil so that it just begins to shimmer, and then — in batches — start giving the slices of steak a good, browning sear on both sides. I browned the slices in three batches.

You want each batch of slices to fast-fry in an evenly spread layer across the base of the skillet. If you overcrowd the skillet with too much steak, the slices won’t fry hot enough or fast enough. On that high heat, the slices will only need about 90 seconds’ frying on each side. Use a slotted spoon to remove them quickly, and set them aside on a plate — and try to leave as much oil as you can in the skillet. Time now to make the steak’s braising sauce.

That hot searing of the dry-rubbed steak will have caused the sugar to begin to caramelize — that’s dandy — and you’ll find a little of that darkened sugar has started sticking slightly to the bottom of the skillet. That’s also dandy because you’ve now got the perfect base to add some wonderful dark color to the onions, garlic, and ginger.

Drop the skillet’s heat to low-medium and stir in the onions, garlic, and ginger. Slowly stir-fry the mix for about 5 minutes until the onion starts to soften and has picked up a dark color from the partly caramelized sugar. Good.

Turn the heat to medium-high, and thoroughly stir in the dissolved tamarind, palm sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, white pepper, and water. As soon as the sauce starts to bubble, drop the heat to low, and stir in the slices of browned steak together with all their juices from their plate. Make sure you also stir in all the juices which drained off the steak after you’d coated it with the sugar and spice mix.

Keeping the heat low, you now want the steak to just barely simmer in the sauce for 30 minutes. That’s when it’s a good idea to check for saltiness. The soy sauce and the fish sauce are both pretty salty, but you might want to add a little ground sea salt to suit your taste. And that’s it — your dendeng sapi manis is done. Cover the skillet — I used a sheet of foil — and let it sit while you cook your nasi jagung.

This is really easy, and it’s ready to serve in the time it takes to cook the basmati rice.

Set the rice to cook according to the pack’s instructions. Just bear in mind that you’ll be adding all the other ingredients to the rice about three minutes before the rice is fully cooked.

Now, before I start cooking the basmati, I like to let it soak covered with cold water for at least 30 minutes. I then drain it, and set it to cook in fresh water — with a level teaspoon of salt — according to the directions listed on the pack. That usually means bringing it to a boil, dropping the heat really low, covering the pan, and then letting the rice absorb all the water as it slowly cooks.

As soon as you set the rice to cook, you can deal with its onion, garlic, and spices. So, add the coconut oil to a small saucepan set on a medium heat. Stir in the diced onion, garlic, ginger, cardamom, star anise, clove, and cinnamon. Drop the heat to low-medium, and give the mix a bit of slow stir-frying for about 5 minutes. You’re aiming to just soften the onion — rather than giving it any color — and to pull out the flavors and aromas of the spices. Once the onion’s softened, turn off the heat.

Two minutes before the rice is fully cooked, stir in the sweetcorn and all of spicy mix you have just slowly stir-fried. Give the whole lot a good combining stir and let the rice finish its last two minutes of cooking. Done and ready to serve in a nicely warmed bowl.

Just before you are ready to serve, set your big skillet on a medium heat, and let the dendeng sap manis just start to bubble a little. You’re aiming here to get it nicely heated ready for serving. Give it a good stir so that the slices of steak all get a coating of the sauce. Serve at once with the nasi jagung alongside.

I like to offer a few, finely sliced Thai bird eye’s chilies as an optional garnish for those who like the hit of some fresh, added heat. For me? Yes please, and kindly pass them over.