How to Cook Beef Rendang
Serves: 6
Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 3 ½ hours
Ingredients needed to make Beef Rendang:
- 3 lb 5 oz beef chuck roast, trimmed and chopped into 1 ¼’’ cubes
- 3 medium red onions, quartered
- 2 ½ oz galangal, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 3 plump red chilies, coarsely chopped
- 2 lemongrass stalks, outer leaves discarded and coarsely chopped
- 1 oz fresh ginger root, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 4 fresh kaffir lime leaves
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- One can (14 fl oz) coconut milk
- 2 tsp tamarind paste
- One 1’’ cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 2 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1 tbsp soft palm sugar or light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- Toasted coconut flakes, to garnish
Cooking instructions for Beef Rendang:
- Toss the chopped onion, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, galangal as well as chilies into a blender and blitz the, into a fine paste; set aside.
- Drizzle the sunflower oil into a large heat-proof casserole and heat it over moderate flame until it shimmers.
- Scrap out the paste into the casserole and sauté for about 3-4 minutes, stirring relentlessly, until it becomes fragrant.
- Sprinkle the ground spices over it and stir fry the mixture for another couple of minutes.
- Toss the beef chunks into the dish and give it a nice stir to coat well with the mixture.
- Brown the meat for about 5 minutes, stirring continuously, and empty the can of coconut milk into it.
- Stir them all together along with 14 fl oz cold water until well combined and drop in the cinnamon stick and kaffir lime leaves.
- Add the tamarind paste, sugar, soy sauce as well as a dash of salt and give it a nice stir to mix well.
- Continue to cook the sauce until it starts simmering and lower the heat slightly to simmer gently for about 3 hours or until the meat is melt-in-the-mouth tender and the rich sauce thickens; stir the mixture all this time, more frequently initially and then occasionally as the cooking time approaches its end.
- Adjust the seasonings and pour into a serving bowl.
- Throw away the cinnamon stick as well as kaffir lime leaves and finish it off with toasted coconut on top.
- Serve warm.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
