Beef Rendang Recipe

Hey everyone! Today we're making absolutely delicious beef rendang. Rendang comes from the Indonesian word marandang or randang which means slowly in reference to the long or slow cooking process. First off we have 10 mild dry red chilies. We're going to soak that in some boiled hot water as well as two teaspoons of tamarind pulp. I'm going to soak that in half a cup of hot water as well. Set that aside for 20 minutes and meanwhile we can make our rempah or the spice paste. For this you need 12 shallots. If you don't have shallots you can also use red onions. I'm using shallots and traditionally the rendang paste is pounded using an Indonesian mortar and pestle but I'm using my liquidizer here. To this we're going to add all the remaining ingredients. I have two stalks of lemongrass. Make sure you slice the lemongrass tender stalk portions very finely. We also have large cloves of garlic, a thumb-sized piece of ginger and galangal. The galangal is also very fibrous so make sure you slice it thinly after peeling. To this we're also going to add fresh red chilies. Okay now after 20 minutes my dried red chilies have rehydrated. I'm just removing them from the soaking water and adding them as well. We're going to blend this to a nice paste. I'm not adding any water. Those rehydrated chilies will have sufficient water to blend this to a paste. Now we're going to make the wet gravy for the rendang and for this you will need half a cup of oil. Since this is a rather long cooking process we do need this amount of oil so that the curry paste doesn't burn or stick to the bottom. You can always remove away any excess oil at the end of the cooking process. So we're going to add this spice paste and then we're going to stir fry till you get a nice deep red color. At this point we're going to add some spice. I have some star anise, cloves, green cardamom pods that have been just bruised to reveal the seeds, a small stick of cinnamon and some fennel seeds. All these spices add a really nice aroma to the paste and now we can add our beef cubes. In Southeast Asia you can ask for rendang beef or top side or stewing beef will do as well. Cut into cubes. I have one kilogram of beef here. We're just going to stir fry in this paste briefly till coated well and we're also going to add the strained tamarind solution at this point just to remove the pulp and seeds. Add salt to taste. I'm adding about one teaspoon. Give it a good stir. Now at this point we can add some curry powder or I'm using my own blend which is one teaspoon of chili powder, three teaspoons of coriander powder, half a teaspoon of ground turmeric and one and a half teaspoons of ground fennel seed powder. Those who like the flavor of pepper in their rendang can add a little bit of pepper powder as well. So here we're going to add one cup of fresh coconut milk. Stir this briskly and as it simmers you're going to reduce the heat. Now we're going to cover and cook this slowly on for one hour. Don't forget to open and stir in between. After one hour the coconut milk will have reduced and it's time to add the second cup of coconut milk. Now give it a stir again and again on reduced heat we're going to cover and cook for another 30 to 40 minutes. Meanwhile we can prepare our fresh herbs. We have turmeric leaf and kaffir lime leaves here. So I have two kaffir lime leaves. I'm just going to remove the mid vein section and then roll it up and then chop it into thin shreds. Turmeric leaf can be very overpowering although it has a lovely aroma. So we're just going to use half or three fourth of a whole leaf. Again I'm removing the mid section and then rolling it up and chopping it up into thin shreds like this. Set that aside and now we can make our kurisik or the roasted coconut paste. Make sure that you're occasionally opening your rendang gravy and giving that a stir to make sure that none of the spice paste gets stuck on the bottom. So to make the kurisik we're going to dry roast the fresh grated coconut in a thick based pot or wok like this for 15 minutes. At this stage you cannot step away from the stove you have to stir continuously. For really fresh coconut you can just add it to a dry pan but I find for frozen grated coconut that has been thawed it's always great to add one spoon of coconut oil before you start to do so. So you have to roast this patiently for 15 minutes and in the end you'll end up with a deep reddish brown color. Make sure you do this step properly. If your coconut becomes black it cannot be used for the rendang. Now you're going to pound this or blend this to a paste without adding any water. This is my kurisik, a beautiful coconut butter. This gives the rendang an almost smoky deliciousness. So this curry has been simmering again for about 40 minutes. At this stage we're going to add the third and final dilute cup of coconut milk. Give that a good stir and bring it to simmer again and we can add the ground roasted coconut paste or kurisik. So I ended up with about four tablespoons of kurisik. We're going to add this to this gravy. Also add the shredded herbs at this stage, the turmeric leaf and kaffir lime leaf. Now we're going to simmer for a final 40 minutes. Make sure you open and stir occasionally till the gravy is deliciously thick and almost dry and the beef absolutely tender. At this stage you can always add an extra stalk of lemongrass that's been bruised or an extra lime leaf if you like the flavor more. Those who prefer to have a subtle sweetness to their rendang can add a spoon of gula melaka or palm sugar or even sweet dark Indonesian soy sauce called kicap manis. And here our beef rendang is ready. Truly a labor of love but absolutely delicious and worth it. We're making some coconut rice to go along with our beef rendang here. So our beef rendang is ready. I hope you like the video recipe. Thank you so much for watching. Bye!