Indonesian Beef Rendang Recipes

BEEF RENDANG (THE BEST!)

Steps:

• Chop the spice paste ingredients and then blend it in a food processor until fine.
• Heat the oil in a stew pot, add the spice paste, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and cardamom and stir-fry until aromatic. Add the beef and the pounded lemongrass and stir for 1 minute. Add the coconut milk, tamarind juice, water, and simmer on medium heat, stirring frequently until the meat is almost cooked. Add the kaffir lime leaves, kerisik (toasted coconut), sugar or palm sugar, stirring to blend well with the meat.
• Lower the heat to low, cover the lid, and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is really tender and the gravy has dried up. Add more salt and sugar to taste. Serve immediately with steamed rice and save some for overnight.

INDONESIAN BEEF RENDANG

Steps:

• Using pestle and mortar, pound and grind the onions, galangal, ginger, and fresh chillies (if using) into a paste. You can also use a food processor to make this paste. Just put the onion, galangal, ginger, and chillies in the food processor. Then give it a blitz until all the become a thick paste.
• Put the meat in a big wok, add in the spices and herbs paste, the cumin, coriander, lemongrass, turmeric leaf, kaffir lime leaves, and salt.
• Stir until all the meat pieces are covered with spices. Put the lid on and cook at medium heat. Keep checking and stirring every now and again.
• After about 20-30 minutes when the meat looks cooked, add in the coconut milk. Stir and cook further with the lid on at medium heat until the milk reaches boiling point, then turn the heat to low. Don't forget to always keep checking and stirring.
• Rendang should be ready within a few hours. But at this point, the rendang will have quite a bit of gravy. You can enjoy it if you want to.
• If you like to have a proper Rendang Hitam (black rendang), you have to cook longer for at least another hour. Cook the rendang until all the gravy evaporates. Take care not to let it stick to the wok, or worse, to burn. Keep checking and stirring.
• When all the sauce is gone, and the rendang turns dark brown, you can switch the heat off. Your black rendang/ rendang hitam is ready.

RENDANG (SPICY BEEF INDONESIAN CURRY)

Steps:

• Put the coconut milk and water in a wok or large pan over medium to high flame and bring to a boil. Add the garlic, shallot, galangal, turmeric, chile, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, cumin, ginger, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and lemongrass and bring to a boil again. Add the beef. After about 5 minutes, turn the flame down to a simmer. Add the sugar and salt. Cook, stirring every 5 minutes, until the coconut milk turns oily, separates and rises to the top (this is the sign that it's done), about 2 hours.

INDONESIAN RENDANG

Steps:

• Put all ingredients for the paste in a blender or food processor.
• Add 50 ml coconut milk to help the blending process and blend until smooth.
• Put the beef and spice paste into a Wok or a large saucepan (minimum capacity 4 liters).
• Pour in the coconut milk, add the lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves and turmeric leaves. Stir to mix.
• Cook over medium-high heat until the coconut milk get boiled.
• Adjust the heat into medium and simmer for 1.5 hours uncovered until the coconut milk becomes thicker and oily. Stirring occasionally.
• Add the tamarind water and salt to taste. (Note: If you like to eat it with sauce you can stop the cooking now. This dish is called: Kalio /Wet Rendang)
• If you like to eat it as rendang then continue cooking on low heat for about 30 minutes.
• Cook until the coconut milk is driven off and the beef and sauce becomes brown and almost dry. (At this stage you will probably need to stir all the time to prevent burning)
• Serve hot with rice and "Minangkabau Green Sambal".
• Many Indonesians prefer a black colour rendang. To get this kind of rendang you need to add roasted grated coconut which's smoothly blended.
• I personally prefer to stop the cooking earlier to reserve it's thick delicates sauce as you see in the pic :-)

RENDANG DAGING (BEEF RENDANG)

Steps:

• Prepare the spice paste: In a small food processor, combine the spice paste ingredients and blend until they form a smooth paste. If the texture is too coarse, you can add a splash of the measured coconut milk and blend again. Set aside.
• Prepare the beef: Trim the meat of any excess fat, then cut the meat into 1 1/2-inch chunks, discarding any additional excess fat, and transfer the cubed meat to a deep, heavy Dutch oven or pot.
• Stir in the prepared spice paste along with the coconut milk, lemongrass, makrut lime leaves (if using), bay leaves and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil over high, then reduce to a gentle simmer and continue to cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until the meat is tender, stirring every 20 minutes or so to ensure the rendang doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.
• After 2 to 2 1/2 hours, the oil from the coconut milk will split and rise to the surface, appearing as a reddish-orange oil; Indonesians call this stage "kalio." (Depending on the oil content of your coconut milk, this may be a subtle film of oil or there can be a pool of it.) Discard the lemongrass stalks. (If they cook any further, they may disintegrate and be impossible to remove.)
• Turn the heat up to medium-high to reduce the sauce. Stir the rendang continuously until the sauce has thickened and turned a deep brown, about 15 minutes. As more oil separates, you are nearly there. Continue stirring the beef so it absorbs the sauce and caramelizes on the outside. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed before serving.

INDONESIAN BEEF RENDANG (RENDANG SAPI)

Steps:

• Grind or blend shallot, garlic, ginger, galangal, peppercorn and turmeric into paste.
• Cut the beef into small but thick slices square.
• Put the beef, spice paste and all other ingredients into a wok and bring slowly to the boil, stirring constantly to prevent the coconut milk from separating. Cook over low heat, stirring from time to time, until the meat is very tender and all the sauce has evaporated.
• Continue cooking the beef, which will fry in the oil that has come out from the coconut milk, until brown.
• Serve with warm Basmati or Jasmine plain rice.