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!
Beef Rendang
This Beef Rendang recipe is 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 a recipe video!
Beef Rendang is the king of all curries!
What is Beef Rendang?
Beef Rendang is a Malaysian curry and is considered by many to be the king of all curries! To say it’s extravagantly delicious is an understatement. There are very few curries in this world with such amazingly complex flavours.
Originally from Indonesia though now more well known as a Malaysia curry, the sauce is made with aromatic spices like cinnamon, cardamom and star anise as well as fresh aromatics including lemongrass, garlic, ginger and galangal.
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.
If you love South East Asian curries, Beef Rendang is without a doubt one of the best!
Here in Sydney, you can get all the ingredients for Beef Rendang at Woolworths and Coles. Seriously!
How to make Beef Rendang
Though there’s a fair few ingredients in this, some of which may not be familiar to you and are certainly not everyday ingredients even in my world, it’s actually quite a straightforward recipe:
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Blitz curry paste ingredient in food processor;
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Brown the beef;
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Cook off the curry paste – releases amazing flavour!
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Add everything else in and slow cook until the beef is ultra tender.
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! – 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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Biryani (it’s amazing!)
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Dal (Indian lentil curry)
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Browse the Curry Collection
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Beef Rendang recipe video!
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Beef Rendang
Ingredients
Spice Paste
- 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)
Curry
- 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
Instructions
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!).
- Add remaining Curry ingredients and beef. Stir to combine.
- Bring to simmer, then immediately turn down the heat to low or medium low so the sauce is bubbling very gently.
- Put the lid on the pot and leave it to simmer for 1 hr 15 minutes.
- 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.
- 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)
- 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.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
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.
Great recipe and I’ve made it a few times. I substitute the salt with 2-3 tbsp of fish sauce. Probably not very authentic, but I love the depth of flavour it adds.
I luuurve Rendang but have always been scared of failure to cook it myself. But this was pretty easy once you had all the ingredients sorted and what else do I have to do in lockdown except cook lots of yummy-ness?! I accompanied this your coconut rice. And I’ll be first dibs on the leftovers tomorrow! Thanks Nagi! ❤️
I made this recipe yesterday and my family enjoyed it so much there were NO leftovers. I served it with coconut rice scented with pandan and stir fried long green beans. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe and great directions! Will definitely make it again (doubled next time).
Sounds like you absolutely nailed it John, thanks so much for letting me know! N x
So delicious!!! It took me about 4 hours in total. Season well at the end. It was such a hit, I can’t wait to make it again! YUM!
Made this tonight , the teeen, the hubby and I loved it. I will cook this again. This reminded us of the times we lived in Malaysia. Thanks Nagi so much for the great memories .
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Belinda!! N x
I watched the Indonesian episode on Ramsay uncharted, and they made Rendang. I was absolutely fascinated with how much work went into it, so had to try it. This recipe did not disappoint. We have a big international market here in Ohio, so the ingredients were easy to come by too. This is by far the best dish I have tasted in a long time.
Very happy with how this turned out! I wish I could share a photo.
Halved the recipe and added some spring onion as garnish.
Removed some extra oil because it was a bit too much for me.
This was another great recipe – delicious!! Thanks Nagi
Absolutely delicious, so tender and flavoursome, we loved it. I used 7 long red chillies and that was spicy enough. Would definitely make again and again ❤️
This was spectacular! We lived in Indonesia for 7 years, and we’ve had lots of rendang. This may have been as good as our housekeeper made it. I used 6 seeded chilis, and it wasn’t hot at all, so I’ll boost the chilis next time, and maybe add a tsp of chili powder. I was sure it wasn’t going to turn as brown as the pictures, but it did! Great recipe, easy to follow, and the effort to taste ratio was off the charts.
I’d searched for a rogan josh recipe and found this site. When I showed the photo to my wife, she said it looked like rendang, which led me to this recipe. Recipetineats has a new fan.
Hi Nagi,
I don’t eat beef but would love to try this recipe. If I were to use lamb what cut of meat would you recommend? I usually use forequarter chops in curries as the bone adds more flavour but would appreciate your advice.
This is my first time commenting on a recipe blog but I have to say I appreciate your recipes so much! Every one I’ve tried has been amazing and easy to follow. Whenever I’m looking up a new recipe I trust your blog above all others. Thank you!!
Hi Pri, I would use lamb shoulder as it has a nice bit of fat that’s going to keep the meat tender. I can’t wait to hear what you think of this one! N x
Tried it with lamb shoulder and it was wonderful! Thank you!!
Yummy! Very delicious! Your spice tolerance must be very high or I’m just a little weak haha. I tried to do the mild version (6 chillies and deseeded 3 of them) still pretty spicy but the mint yogurt dressing from one of your other recipes helped and really added to the flavours! Plus a mango chutney! Yummy!
Hi Nagi.
Was so disappointed with a rendang from Malay restaurant and thought I’d try your site for inspiration! Am unfamiliar with using lemongrass and am wondering roughly how much of the base do I toss and then the length of piece to use, I suspect I’ve overdone it and used too much!
Also, is the amount of ginger and galangal given before chopping? I used a knob of each about 1+half Tbsp in size, and then chopped, and it seemed a lot compared to your video. I hope I haven’t ruined tomorrow night’s dinner. Thanks for any clarification.
This had such a depth of flavour. I was really worried about my beef as it was still pretty tough at the 1hr 15min mark so I cooked it for 35 mins longer before taking the lid off and reducing it for 35 mins when it completely transformed into a rich, dark, flavour filled, fork tender curry. I used 12 dried chilis but I would probably reduce to about 8 or 9 next time. It is a dry curry so we thought we might have another wetter curry to serve along side as well.
Oh and as I live regionally I was absolutely stoked I was able to get fresh galangal at my local Coles….
So delish I wanted to replicate a rendang I had in Bali and this was pretty spot on. My woolies didn’t have any chuck left so I had to use rump and simmer it for 4 hours to get it nice and tender as I wanted, despite the fact my cat walked across the cooktop when I was out of the room and turned the temp up to high slightly burning the bottom it still came out perfectly!
I’m so glad you loved it Georgie!!! At least we know Dozer won’t get to the cooktop 😂 N x
Hi Nagi, just want to thank you for the precision and care and passion you put into sharing your knowledge. Your recipes are easy to follow and the little details help so much to get it right. (eg coconut rice)
I love your food and I have found the one place that I can rely one to learn exciting recipes that work. Thanks for being such a great teacher.
Is there an error with the time on this recipe? The recipe summary says 3 hours slow cook. The recipe steps has 1hr 15 for the simmer with lid, then 30-40 without lid. That’s under 2 hours. I’m currently cooking this, smells amazing, I’m at the 2 hour stage, but it’s still very saucy !