The KING OF ALL CURRIES is here!!! Beef Rendang has incredible depth of flavour, with complexity and many layers of spices. It’s straight forward to make, though it does take time and perhaps a trip to the Asian grocery store (though Sydney-siders will find everything at Woolies). Watch the video and drool!
I got this Beef Rendang recipe from a payroll lady at a company I used to work for. It’s her Malaysian mother’s recipe. I still remember, so many years later, how we used to bond over food at the water cooler!
I actually first published this recipe a couple of years ago but I’ve made some minor improvements that will make your life easier without changing the flavour at all. Plus I made the video!
Beef Rendang is considered by many to be the king of all curries, and I think it’s with good reason! To say it’s extravagantly delicious is an understatement. There are very few curries in this world with such amazingly complex flavours.
If you’ve never tried to make a curry from scratch before, this is a good one to try because even though it may require a trip to the Asian grocery store, it is very straightforward to make.
Wait – actually – if you live in Australia (well, at least Sydney!), you won’t need to go to the Asian store! You can get everything you need at Woolies. Seriously!
Unlike many curries, Beef Rendang is a dry curry which means there is not loads of sauce. However, the meat is so ridiculously tender and has a thick coating of sauce on each piece, so when the meat literally falls apart at a touch, it mixes through rice, flavouring it like saucy curries.
An interesting cooking method with Beef Rendang is the way it gets the deep brown colour. All throughout the video, right up until the very end, you will notice that the sauce is a pale brown colour. It’s not until the very end when the sauce reduces right down and the oil separates that it turns brown, essentially the browning of the beef in the oil of the sauce.
This Beef Rendang can be made in a slow cooker, but I find it easiest to make it all on the stove. Especially given it starts on the stove with the browning of the beef and spice paste, then finishes on the stove with the reducing of the sauce and browning of the beef (this part cannot be done in a slow cooker).
This is one of those recipes that just gets better with time. So whenever possible, I try to make this a day or two in advance. It also freezes extremely well.
I serve this with my Restaurant Style Coconut Rice because it’s my copycat of the coconut rice you get at the posh modern Asian restaurants! And it’s not just coconut milk and rice….you can find the recipe here.
Happy weekend! Try not to trip over the kerb, plant your hand in unidentifiable mush or chuck your keys in the bin….. – Nagi xx
PS You see those bits stuck on the beef that could be shredded coconut?? It’s not. It’s bits of shredded BEEF. Because it’s so tender by the end, when you’re stirring it, some bits do flake off. YUM!
MORE GREAT CURRIES OF THE WORLD!
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- Chicken Tikka Masala
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- Thai Red Curry
- Massaman Curry
- Browse the Curry Collection
Beef Rendang is a Malaysian curry and is an extravagantly rich dish that is easy to prepare but takes time and patience to slow cook. Unlike many curries, this is a "dry" curry which means the beef is not swimming in sauce. Though you may think that the sauce is often the best part of a curry, the beef is "fall apart at a touch" tender and covered in a thick, saucy curry which then mixes through the rice so it is not in the least bit "dry"! This can be made in a slow cooker (see notes) but I recommend making this on the stove for best results. RECIPE VIDEO below.
- 12 dried chilies, rehydrated in boiling water, or 12 large fresh (Note 1a)
- 1 small onion, finely chopped (Note 1b)
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 lemongrass stalks, white part only, sliced (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh galangal, finely chopped (Note 3)
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 2 tbsp oil (vegetable, canola or peanut oil)
- 2 lb/ 1 kg chuck steak, or other slow cooking beef, cut into 4cm / 1.6" cubes (Note 4)
- 1 tbsp oil (vegetable, peanut, canola)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/4 tsp clove powder
- 3 star anise
- 1/2 tsp cardamon powder
- 1 lemongrass stick, bottom half of the stick only and smashed (Note 5)
- 400ml / 14 oz coconut milk (1 standard can)
- 2 tsp tamarind puree / paste, or tamarind pulp soaked in 1 tbsp of hot water, seeds removed (Note 6)
- 4 large kaffir lime leaves (or 6 small) , very finely sliced (Note 7)
- 1/3 cup desiccated coconut (finely shredded coconut)
- 1 tbsp brown sugar or grated palm sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
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Place Spice Paste ingredients in a small food processor and whizz until fine. NOTE: If using dried chilli and you know your food processor is not that powerful, chop the chilli first.
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Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Add half the beef and brown, then remove onto plate. Repeat with remaining beef.
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Lower heat to medium low. Add Spice Paste and cook for 2 - 3 minutes until the wetness has reduced and the spice paste darkens (don't breathe in too much, the chilli will make you cough!).
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Add remaining Curry ingredients and beef. Stir to combine.
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Bring to simmer, then immediately turn down the heat to low or medium low so the sauce is bubbling very gently.
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Put the lid on the pot and leave it to simmer for 1 hr 15 minutes.
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Remove lid and check the beef to see how tender it is. You don't want it to be "fall apart at a touch" at this stage, but it should be quite tender. If it is fall apart already, remove the beef from the pot before proceeding.
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Turn up heat to medium and reduce sauce for 30 - 40 minutes, stirring every now and then at first, then frequently towards the end until the beef browns and the sauce reduces to a paste that coats the beef. (Note 9)
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The beef should now be very tender, fall apart at a touch. If not, add a splash of water and keep cooking. Remove from heat and serve with plain or Restaurant Style Coconut Rice.
1a. 12 dried chillies or long red fresh chillies (cayenne pepper) (seeds in) makes a fairly spicy curry but it's not "blow your head off" spicy because the long cook time tempers the spiciness. You can adjust the level of spiciness to your taste - use 6 for a mild curry. To reduce spiciness, you can deseed the chilli - I do not do this.
If using dried chillies, rehydrate in boiling water (use lots, ignore the measly splash I used in the video, that was a mistake).
1b. Onion: Use a brown, white or yellow onion about the size of a tennis ball. Or half a large one or 6 shallots/eschallots chopped
2. To prepare lemongrass, peel the reedy green shell to reveal the softer white part on the bottom half of the lemongrass. Slice the white part and very pale green part only - the green part is too reedy.
If lemongrass is hard to come by, you can use PASTE: 2 tsp in the spice mix and add an extra teaspoon when you add the coconut milk etc. 🙂
3. Galangal is like ginger but it has a more sour and peppery flavour. If you can't find it, just substitute with more ginger and a grind of black pepper.
4. You can use any slow cooking cut of beef for this recipe. As with all slow cooked beef recipes, the fattier beef, the juicier the meat will be when cooked. I like to use chuck, gravy beef or beef cheeks as I think these cuts have the best balance of fat and fibrous tissue.
It is best to buy one piece and cut it yourself into large cubes about the size of golf balls. Larger cubes are better for this dish because this is not only slow cooked but also cooked down to reduce the sauce to almost a "paste" like consistency and if you use small pieces of beef, they may fall apart and shred in the pot when you stir the curry. It is much easier to handle larger pieces.
5. Smash the lemongrass to help the flavour infuse into the curry. Use the side of your knife, a meat mallet or a tin.
6. Tamarind puree is made from tamarind fruit. It is quite tart, but not as sour as lemon. You can buy tamarind puree from the Asian section of large supermarkets in Australia (or Asian grocery stores). If you are using tamarind pulp (sticky block of dried tamarind), soak it in 2 tbsp of hot water and remove the seeds, then use as per recipe directions.
You can substitute the tamarind with 2 tsp of vinegar (white or brown, but not balsamic) or lemon juice.
7. Kaffir Lime Leaves - there is no substitute for the earthy lime flavour you get from fresh kaffir lime leaves so I really recommend buying fresh ones. They freeze well and last for ages and are commonly found in many South East Asian dishes. You can substitute with dried kaffir lime leaves. As a last resort, you can use 1 tbsp of lime juice + the rind of 1 lime, but the flavour will not be quite the same.
8. To make this in a slow cooker, do the steps up to searing the beef in a pan then pour the contents in your slow cooker. Pour the water into the pan and bring to simmer, making sure to scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan to mix in with the water, then pour the water into the slow cooker (make sure you scrape in as much of the brown bits as you can!). Slow cook on low for 6 hours (or pressure cook on high for 30 minutes). Then pour the curry into a pot and follow the recipe steps to reduce the sauce.
9. This is what happens when the Sauce reduces: Once the sauce reduces right down, the oil will separate (see photo in post). Then you end up browning the beef in that oil - this is where the deep brown Rendang colour comes from. Rendang is not a wet, saucy curry, it all reduces down into a sticky paste that coats the beef.
By this time, the beef should be "fall apart at a touch" and there will be bits of shredded beef that looks like coconut that stick to the beef.
10. Simple Lightly Pickled Cucumber Side that goes with this well: Slice cucumbers on the diagonal and place into a bowl. For each cucumber you are using, sprinkle over 1 tsp of rice wine vinegar, a small pinch of salt and white sugar (each). Leave to lightly pickle for at least 20 minutes, up to 24 hours.
11. STORING: Rendang, like other slow cooked things, just gets better with time. Great on the day it's made, fantastic the next day and the next. Freezes well too.
12. Originally published in November 2014, updated to improve as follows: original recipe used whole cardamon and cloves, these are impossible to pick out and I don't like crunching into them. So I now use powder. Also, in authentic recipes, the curry paste goes in first then the beef is added. Doing it this way, the beef does not brown. I like browning beef first because you get that gorgeous caramelisation that adds flavour.
Originally published in November 2014, updated with the ridiculous events of 26 May 2017, a recipe video and a slightly improved recipe.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Beef Rendang recipe video!
LIFE OF DOZER
Dozer’s got a boo boo. i.e. Shredded his paw by tearing manically across a bed of oyster shells in pursuit of a pelican.
Let’s not feel too sorry for him though. He’s been pretty pampered.
Made it tonight using your recipe and I have to say it’s very authentic! I love that it’s made from scratch instead of with spice paste from Woolies as they never taste quite “right”. The only thing I didn’t add was the desiccated coconut as I’ve never actually seen any Malaysian use them.
Awesome!!! Glad you enjoyed this Elena! N x ❤️
Hi Nagi. As kaffir lime leaves have two leaf segments per stem, do you use four full leaves (which would be eight individual leaf segments), or two full leaves (which would be four individual leaf segments). I thought I’d check, so I don’t overpower the rendang, or have one lacking in flavour. Thanks!
Hi Agnes – I didn’t know that! This recipe calls for 4 individual leaves 🙂 N x