Beef Rendang

Beef Rendang is an Indonesian dish made by simmering beef for hours in coconut milk and spices until the liquid has evaporated. It's then fried in the oil the meat releases, caramelizing what's left of the sauce around each piece of meat.

Of course if you are not a fan of beef, you can change the meat to chicken or even lamb. Please take note that chicken cook much faster than beef or lamb, so you need to cook the spices and coconut milk for some times before putting in the chicken. Otherwise the chicken meat might be too soft at the end of your cooking. 

Ingredients:

For spice paste

8 shallots

3 clove of garlic

2 thumb-size of turmeric

1 thumb-size of ginger

2 thumb-size of galangal

8 stalks of lemon grass

8 dried chilies

8 chilies padi / chilies

2 Aniseed

For Kerisik

100g grated coconut

1 tsp cumin seeds

3 tsp coriander seeds

1 whole chicken chopped in pieces or 1kg beef  cut into cubes

200g grated coconut for fresh coconut milk

Salt to taste

8 Kaffir lime leaves (squashed, 4 pcs finely sliced)

1 cube of gula Malacca (or brown sugar)

Methods:

1.       Preparing kerisik:  Toast all ingredients for kerisik in a non-stick frying pan till it turns light brown. Be watchful during the toasting process in order not to burn the ingredients.

Cool the toasted ingredients before blending it in a blender until it is finely blended.

2.       Preparing fresh coconut milk:  Add grated coconuts into 2 cups of water and squeeze the juice out of it. For second round, do the same thing with 1 cup of water instead for a thinner coconut milk.

Keep a handful of the squeezed grated coconuts and blend it with the thinner coconut milk.

3.       In  a non-stick pan, add the blended spice paste and half of the coconut milk to boil.

15 minutes later, add in lime leaves, gula Malacca and kerisik.

4.       For Beef Rendang:  Add in beef cubes and continue to simmer for another 1 hour until the oil is separated from the sauce.  Stir occasionally to avoid the sauce sticking on the pan. Add in the thicker coconut milk and continue to cook for another 20 minutes.

For Chicken Rendang: Simmer the paste for 40 minutes before adding the chicken piece & the thicker coconut milk. Continue to simmer for another 20 minutes until the oil separated from the sauce and chicken is cooked. Stir occasionally to avoid the sauce sticking on the pan.

5.       Add salt & sugar to taste.

6.       Dish is ready to serve, it taste better overnight.