I hardly ever cook rendang, especially beef rendang. Why? Because it takes hours and hours to cook this delicate aromatic dish. In Malaysia, we call this ‘Rendang Tok’ which means Granny Rendang, sure enough, this recipe originated from my cousins grandmother, God bless her!

 RECIPE FOR BEEF RENDANG/ RENDANG TOK
Adapted from Tok Ye, with slight modifications
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 3-4 hours

Ingredients

Blended ingredients
10 small shallots
6 cloves garlic
1 knob ginger, 4 cm
1 knob galangal, 4cm
2 lemongrass, end part only and sliced thinly
10-15 dried chilli, soaked in hot water for 30 mins

The rest of the ingredients are:

2 kilo beef chuck steak, with bones
2 tsp ginger paste (to marinate the chicken)
2 tsp garlic paste (to marinate the chicken)
2 tbsp ketumber (coriander powder)
1 tsp jintan manis (cummin spowder)
1 tsp jintan putih (fennel powder)
1.5 tbsp curry powder (brand:baba’s meat curry powder)
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp black pepper
3-4 kaffir lime leaves
100g kerisik (dry fry shredded coconut untill golden brown)
1 can coconut cream
1/2 cup oil

Method
1. Marinate beef with a bit of salt and ginger & garlic paste. Stand for an hour.
2. Put oil and add blended ingredients, fry until fragrant and you see the oil separates. Should take about 7-10 mins.
3. Add the spices (coriander,cummin, fennel, turmeric and curry powder then fry again until oil separates. Another 7 mins.
4. Put the beef and then cook covered on low heat. Stir regularly every 20 mins to make sure it doesn’t burn.
5. Add the kaffir lime leaves, tamarind, coconut cream, kerisik (shredded coconut) and season generously with salt, pepper and sugar.
6. Cook until it dries out and the colour has darkened. Cooking time should be at least 3 hours.
7. Serve with warm steam rice.

Note: Rendang is best made a day in advance! Tastes really good the day after!