Yes, I’m happy to finally share my favorite Indonesian recipe on my blog: Rendang! I ate this dish a lot of times during my 5 months in Indonesia. During my last week, I even ate it almost every day. Rendang is tender beef stew in a very tasty and rich sauce. I always got my Rendang from the Nasi Padang Warungs. These eateries sell steamed rice served with a choice of different pre-cooked dishes. Delicious!
Making Rendang takes a while, but it is certainly not difficult. It’s mainly a matter of waiting and stirring occasionally after all the ingredients are in the pot. It’s necessary to thicken the sauce and stew the meat. This took about 3 to 4 hours for me.
Do you prefer a vegetarian option? In this case you can also use tempeh instead of beef which is also very tasty. If you don’t eat beef, with chicken it’s also delicious.
Rendang Recipe
Ingredients
- 0.5 kg lean beef
- 3 – 4 red chillies
- 150 grams of shallots
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 15 grams of ginger
- 15 grams galangal
- 1 candlenut
- 0,5 piece of star anice
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 0,5 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp cardamom
- 1 tbsp coriander
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 liter of coconut milk
- 2 pieces of lemongrass (bruised)
- 3 kaffir (lime leaves)
- salt to taste
- cooked rice
Intructions Rendang
Cut the meat into pieces. Add all the spices (chilies, shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal, candlenut, star anice, turmeric, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander and cumin to a food processor and grind until smooth. Optionally, add a splash of coconut milk to make grinding easier.
Mix the meat with the mashed spices and place in a large wok or frying pan. Fry the meat all around.
Next pour the coconut milk into the pan and also add the crushed lemongrass, kaffir leaves and some salt to taste. Cook over medium-high heat until it boils completely. Then lower the heat and let the Rendang simmer for several hours (about 4 – 5 hours) without a lid. Stir occasionally.
Cook while stirring until the coconut milk dries and the oil is absorbed by the meat.
Serve with steamed/cooked rice and vegetables. Traditionally, cassava leaves are served with Rendang, but I’m not sure whether these are available in your country. I cooked some green beans with it, but other cooked vegetables also go well together.
