Recipe: Beef Rendang

I thought I would post some of my favourite recipes on here as well. They will generally be budget conscious, and seriously tasty.

So here is my first, and favourite ever to make:

BEEF RENDANG

This is a Malaysian/Indonesian dry curry. This recipe is my bastardised version of a few from different sources. Its is really easy to make and tastes awesome. It does help if you have a food processor - even one of the small bowl and blades that you attach to a bamix/stick mixer will do the job.

This will be enough to feed four adults. You can also bulk it out with things like potato cut into chunks and added about an hour before you want to serve it.

Like all curries, it will be even better the next day.

You need:

1.2 kg Chuck steak
2cm fresh ginger, chopped
half a bunch of coriander (roots and all, chopped)
4 cloves of garlic, peeled, roughly chopped
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised and chopped
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Kecap Manis (Sweet Soy Sauce)
2 tablespoons chilli - dried or fresh, or a combination of both
2 Tablespoons Tamarind Pulp
1 small Red Onion, roughly chopped
1 lime - rind and the juice (can use lemon if you don't have lime)
Desiccated Coconut
Powdered Coconut Milk
Vegetable Oil


For the
For the meat:

Cut the chuck steak into chunks about 2cm by 2cm. Don't trim the meat of any fat or sinew.

For the paste:

Process the ginger, coriander, garlic, lemongrass, fish sauce, Soy Sauce and Kecap Manis, chilli, Tamarind, red onion and lime rind until its finely processed and mixed - it will be very colourful and fragrant. Add in a cup of desiccated coconut, and some of the lime juice, and some of the oil. You want the coconut, juice and oil to bind all the ingredients together to a paste.

When the paste is ready, heat some more oil in a heavy based saucepan, and fry off the paste until it starts to become fragrant (if you're not used to it, it might make your eyes water!) then add your meat. Stir to cover in the paste and start the meat cooking. Then add 2 cups of made up coconut milk (follow the instructions on the milk packet). Top up with water to make sure the meat is covered. Then reduce to a low heat (barely simmering) and let it cook away. It will usually take about 3 hours. If you feel that its sticking or drying too fast, add some more coconut milk.

When the meat is falling apart, it is ready. If you want it saucier, finish cooking it now, but if you want to make it more coconutty, you can add some powder to thicken the sauce up and flavour it more. If not, you can cook it down until it looks like dog food (sorry!).

Serve with rice. You can stir vegetables through the curry as well as potatoes.

NOTE: The paste is very light and colourful when you start, but it will end up very dark brown.

ENJOY!