Beef Rendang
Beef Rendang is a stunningly delicious internationally famous, classic, spicy, slow cooked Indonesian/Malaysian curry beloved well beyond Asia. With complex, deep flavours developed through long, slow cooking, layers of spices, aromatics and toasted coconut, this intensely aromatic curry is rich and creamy and packs a huge flavour punch.
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons unsweetened desiccated coconut
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or vegetable oil
- 100g/5 tablespoons Rendang curry paste, homemade or shop bought. (If you are using a shop bought paste, check suggested quantities)
- 1kg braising beef, chopped into 2.5cm/1 inch cubes
- 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
- 600ml beef stock/broth
- 7 kaffir lime leaves, ideally fresh or frozen, or dried
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 1 stick lemongrass, trimmed and crushed
- 20g/1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon palm sugar
- 2 teaspoons tamarind paste
- ¾ teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
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Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
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Brown the coconut: tip the desiccated coconut into your cooking pan, set over a moderate heat, and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until golden brown, stirring. Keep a close eye on it as it will burn very quickly. Take out of the pan and transfer to a bowl – this prevents it cooking further.
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Cook the curry paste: put your rending curry paste into your cooking pan with the coconut oil and cook over a moderate heat, stirring, for 2 minutes until fragrant.
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Cook the beef: add the beef and stir well to mix. Cook for 3 minutes stirring.
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Add the remaining ingredients to the curry paste and the beef: coconut milk, beef stock, lime leaves, toasted coconut, cinnamon stick, star anise, crushed lemongrass stalk, palm sugar, tamarind paste, salt and ground cloves. Stir well to mix and bring to a gentle simmer.
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Cook, lid on, over a very low heat for 1 hour, stirring from time to time.
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Continue to cook, with the lid slightly ajar, over a very low heat for a further hour, stirring from time to time.
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After 2 hours, the beef should be very tender and the sauce reduced. However, you will most probably need to reduce the sauce further. Take off the lid and turn the heat up to moderately hot and cook for 20 – 30 minutes until the sauce has reduced, darkened, and is coating the beef.
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Remove the cinnamon stick, bashed lemongrass and the star anise. Serve the Rendang with plain or coconut rice.
Recipe Notes
Equipment:
- kitchen scales and measuring spoons
- chopping board and knife
- heavy based cast iron pan with lid
Consistency of the curry
A Rendang curry is a ‘dry curry’. This means that the sauce is reduced to the point that it coats the beef more like a paste. Full confession – this sauce is so luscious we prefer it a little looser than how it is supposed to be served – we just love that sauce soaking through my rice. An authentic Rendang will look drier than mine – to achieve this, simply cook it for a little longer without the lid on, until you have the consistency you are looking for.