Ingredients
Units
Scale
- For the rendang:
- 1 lb. beef tenderloin
- 1 lb. short ribs without bones
- 5 makrut (kaffir) lime leaves
- 1 turmeric leaf (if unavailable, use 2 cinnamon leaves or bay leaves)
- 1 tsp. tamarind paste + 2 Tbsp. Water
- 17 oz. coconut cream or santan
- 1 Tbsp. coconut palm sugar or gula melaka
- 2 tsp. Knorr Aromat, or to taste (TFD change, original was kosher salt)
- 4 1/4 oz. kerisik
- 1 cup beef stock (if needed) (TFD change, original was water)
- 1/4 cup cooking oil
- ***
- Blended Spice Paste:
- 7 dried chiles de arbol, soaked in boiling water, cut and deseeded
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. sambal oelek (TFD change, add 3 more dried chiles de arbol for original)
- 8 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 lemongrass stalks, outer layers removed, top 1/2 and bottom tip discarded, and remainder chopped
- 1 inch ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 inch galangal, roughly chopped (if unavailable, use young ginger or peeled regular ginger)
- 1 inch fresh turmeric (strongly preferred) or 1 tsp. turmeric Powder
- 1 tsp. coriander seeds
- 1 tsp. fennel seeds
- 1 tsp. cumin seeds
- 6 macadamia nuts (TFD change, original would be candlenut)
- 1 tsp. freshly-ground nutmeg
- 1 Tbsp. white peppercorns
- 1 Ceylon cinnamon stick, broken into pieces (TFD change, original was regular cinnamon)
- 2 star anise
- 4 cloves
- 5 green cardamom pods, seeds removed from the husk and husks discarded
- 1 Tbsp. beef demiglace (WILDLY optional TFD addition, omit for original)
- 1/4 cup beef stock, for easier blending (TFD change, original was water)
Instructions
- Blend together the spice base paste in a blender or food processor.
- To a pot, add oil. Once hot, add the blended paste, and sauté for about 5 minutes until fragrant, or when the paste has dried slightly and deepened in color.
- Add in the beef. Stir through, and let the meat draw out liquid. Continue to stir until the liquid has evaporated. The meat would also have shrunk slightly. This will take about 10 minutes.
- Add coconut cream, Aromat, palm sugar, kaffir lime leaves (tear or bruise first to release flavors), turmeric (or bay or cinnamon leaves) also bruised, tamarind paste and kerisik.
- Let it come to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and keep stirring until the color of the sauce changes to golden brown and the oil comes out from the coconut milk.
- Set the heat to the bare minimum. Put a lid on the pot and let the rendang stew for at least 2 hours.
- Every 20 to 30 minutes, return to the pot, and give a good stir to evenly distribute the caramelised coconut cream. With a spatula, scrape any bits sticking to the bottom of the pot, to prevent any burning. If you find your rendang drying out too soon, or before your beef is fully tender, feel free to add more beef stock halfway through.
- At the final half hour, keep a closer watch on the rendang and start stirring continuously, raising the heat to medium low, until the sauce color changes to dark brown and caramelizes and the meat is tender. A lot of the liquid will have been cooked off, so the spices are more prone to burning, so watch carefully.
- Serve immediately with steamed rice.