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 have had one of “those days”. Don’t ever think that just because I can chop an onion with reasonable speed that I’m the nimble, nifty sort. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m actually a total klutz. <— Hence why I grew up being able to mock myself, otherwise I would spend my life being embarrassed.
So today, I parked on the street at my local shops, jumped out of the car and went to open the boot to let Dozer out. Tripped on the kerb and did a face plant in one of those reedy type bushes. Now you will be pleased to know that I broke my fall with my hands…..except that my hand landed in a pile of unidentifiable mush that stank like something I don’t want to think about.
I am pretty sure I heard Dozer laughing at me through the rear window.
But no worries, that’s nothing too bad. I brushed myself off, found a restroom to wash my hands, then went off to the butcher to pick up a huge slab of brisket. Picked up a smoothie enroute to the car, and between holding that, a paper napkin, Dozer wriggling all over the place, the brisket and car keys was just all too much for me to handle. Yes, you guessed. The keys went into one of those very large, DEEP public bins.
I am pretty sure I heard Dozer laughing beside me.
So I’m so glad it’s now 5pm here because I can pour myself a glass of wine and pretend this morning never happened.
Now. Let’s talk CURRY.
I got this 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). So really, the only part that can be done in a slow cooker is the middle part when the beef is cooked slowly for 1 hr 15 minutes. Worth transferring back and forth between pot and slow cooker? Hmmm….not for me. 🙂
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 what I call 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!
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.
Wow, amazing recipe, tastes awesome and so easy! Thank you
Nagi, this recipe made me a dedicated fan of your website and recipe collection!
According to my wife, this Rendang is “better than restaurant quality”. (And she does like restaurant beef Rendang!)
Thank you so much !
Chris
This recipe sounds so great- I lived in Indonesia for 11 years and this was one of my favorites-
I am hoping to make this for a big group of people- do you think it would work ok to bake it in a low
Oven in a roasting pan- covered??
Thanks in advance for any advice-
Loved your recipe. In my area the lemongrass available is not that fresh and the white part at the bottom is hard and inedible even after cooking. Will this dish work if I skip the lemongrass entirely? Thanks
This is a restaurant quality dish. The best Rendang I have ever eaten. Thanks so much for sharing. 😊
That’s great to hear Brooke! Thanks so much for letting me know! N x
It’s really delicious !!!
Will definitely try your other recipe.
Thank you for sharing it.
Thank you for this fantastic recipe. The dish turned out brilliantly
I’m a professional chef and have seldom seen a recipe explained so complete and clearly.
Your notes are priceless and adding the timings for pressure cooking and slow cooking is a great idea.
I am a pressure /slow cooker freak.
I can’t wait to read and try your other recipes.
I’m really pleased I found you Nagi 🙂
This is out of this world. We’ve made it about 6 times now and have had a slightly different flavour each time as you’d expect from using the fresh ingredients. I can’t believe we’ve made a curry of this quality at home. Thanks for an amazing recipe!
Thanks for the feedback Helen! Glad you enjoyed this 🙂 N x
Oh my!!! This recipe is so easy and delicious… I never thought I could cook such a superb dish.
My husband absolutely loved it. The only thing is the star anise- is there a substitute or another way to use it to get the flavour without biting into a star anise. What do you recommend?
Hi there, Can I ask how many dried chillies would you recommend if children would eat this dish so that it isn’t TOO spicy? Thank you.
Hi Sarah! That’s a tough one – how old are the children?? Rendang is a bit spicy and you can’t skip the chillies completely because they are part of the flavour base 🙂
Dear Nagi, beef rendang tasted delicious, yummy! I ‘ll try to make this every week. Thank you for your yummy recipes and for your hard working for this site 5 STARS.
Thank you for your videos also 5 STARS; I’m always happy with your videos that makes everything easier.
Love to your sweet Dog en greetings from Amsterdam.
Terrific to hear you enjoyed this!! Thanks Ira! N x
Hello Nagi!
I’ve just questions regarding lemon grass. I live in country WA and cannot get hold a good fresh ones (the fresh ones i can find at my local grocery store are minuscule and cost $5 for 3 sticks, but they ARE minuscule: about 5cm long- not quite 1cm in diameter ! and they usually only have one box) . On a recent trip to Perth I’ve managed to get hold of lemon grass paste. I’ve got 2 tubs but how much should I use for this recipe ?
Now if i would get lucky and find some nice one like in your photo, do they freeze well ?
And I have actually another question but this time about kaffir lime leaves. I found some dried and crushed in the spice section of my local store !! Whoop whoop but… no indication on the jar about quantities to replace fresh ones. Do you have any clue on that one by any chance ?
I’ve made that recipe before with those dried kaffir lime leaves and those minuscule lemongrass sticks (one packet of 3 @ $5 the packet), it was good but I want to try it done properly this time 🙂
Thanks
Jo
Hi Jo! I would use 1 1/2 tbsp in this 🙂 paste isn’t as strong as fresh ones. Try growing them! I am told it grows very well!! I believe it does freeze well because at Asian stores, you can get chopped lemongrass which is a “trade secret” in the Malaysian world apparently!! For kaffir lime leaves, use the same amount as fresh. Hope you love it!! N xx
Thank you very much Nagi !
Made this a couple of days ago to acclaim. However, I must confess I cheated somewhat. I had 2 tins of Maesri’s Panang paste in my pantry and subbed these for the spice paste – the list of ingredients on the can was very similar to yours. My experience with Maesri pastes has been consistently good.
Despite my guilt, the rendang was delish! Served it with roti, coconut rice and an asian slaw with your sesame dressing. Thanks as always, Nagi!
That’s so great to hear Katharine! Thanks for letting me know! N x
Beef Rendang came out amazing! Everyone loved it! It will be my go-to asian potluck dish.
Thanks for the clear and detailed instructions! Very helpful for a novice like me.
That’s great to hear Warren! Thanks for letting me know!
5 nights, 5 recipes from your blog and ALL 😋😋 yummy scrummy 😋😋 including this one ☝️ ! The beef was perfectly tender and the curry full of flavours !!
I’ve got to thank you for sharing all those beautiful recipes: I was stalling with my old recipes and needed something new! Plus I love, love, love that everything (or just about) is made from scratch! That’s the way I like to cook and feed my family. The less additives and processing the better.
So thank you again so much
Xx
I’m so pleased you enjoyed this Johanna! Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback! N x ❤️
Just curious i am thinking about buying a sous vide and precooking , however i have learned to marinate my beef with pineapple to tenderize it , and trust me it works well , so to my point will this work with using pretendrerized meat like chuck roast /pot roast or is better to stay with the recipe as written? Also i had a friend the a restaurant that served Malaysian food and he served me a dish call rendang dang with a spring roll that was light and filled with vegetables and a spicy red sauce that i cannot forget but can’t reproduce or find can you help?
Hi Marc – I just did what you are asking. I sous vide my beef shin and rump steak prior to cutting it up and incorporating it in the curry. I did not brown the meat before sous vide or before adding it in the curry. It was nice and brown from the time in the sous vide. Sous vide @ 145F for 24 hours. Then followed the recipe exactly — just no browning necessary. I still cooked it as long as Nagi recommends and it came out melting 🙂 Hope this helps answer your question
Nagi – this meal is just delightful. I made it on Sunday afternoon using chuck steak from my butcher and my family was almost silent! Thank you.
I’ve made this twice – with a Sirloin Joint I got for cheaps and with Chicken Thighs. My methodology was different but the recipe was identical and on both occasions was superb. No, it was sublime. No wait, sublimely superb!
For the beef: I followed your instructions except pressure cooked for 45 minutes and then reduced on the hob – I didn’t brown but will try that next time for sure. This was a time related decision.
For the chicken thighs: I browned skinside down in the pan and removed to fry the paste and then everything went in the pan as normal except I only added the cream of the coconut tin. Just before the end I removed the chicken thighs, deboned them and cut them up into chunks and put them back in the pan for the sauce to thicken around – took just over an hour, start to finish. I’d try skinless, boneless next time to see if the bone has added anything – it would be quicker without the skin and bone.
This exceeded my expectations, the chicken might actually be better – no kidding – and want to say thank you very much! This is a 5 star recipe and, although there are plenty of different rendang recipes online (it seems every man and his dog has there own recipe), I am always on the search for perfection and I would be nervous to try another! I ‘ll likely never bother 🙂
P.S – I tried your restaurant coconut rice and it was superb. I’ll always have this with my Beef Rendang – the coconut powder is a revelation(although I used the Maggi version and only needed half the amount of powder you have in the recipe)
P.P.S – I noticed at my local Chinese supermarket they have frozen grated coconut – which I would need to dry fry and grind to make ‘real’ kerisik. I’ve been using desiccated coconut – is there much of a difference? I suppose the real question is, is it worth it?
Plop! I also meant to say that I love, nay LOVE, the copious notes. I’m an extremely keen home cook but not particularly intuitive – they helped tremendously,
So pleased to hear that Jason! Love all your feedback 🙂 I haven’t tried this with frozen grated coconut, love to know what you think if you do try it!! N xx
Thanks so much for posting this recipe! I had to make some substitutions, and I’m *really* not good with spicy food so I only put in a couple of chili peppers, but it ended up tasting fantastic! I was surprised at how easy it was to make, given the complexity of the taste 🙂
So pleased to hear that Mike! Thanks for letting me know 🙂 N x
This was bloody awesome!!!
Rendang is one of our favourite dishes. The restaurant we used to go to couldn’t guarantee it being peanut free so we haven’t been able to take our kids there (our son has a nut allergy). This is the first time we have ever cooked one of our restaurant favourites at home and thought it was just as good- and that’s a testament to your recipe, not my cooking!
Thank you for posting this – we will definitely cook it again- many times.
I didn’t quite nail the coconut rice – the flavour was good but not the texture. Think I added a bit to much liquid as I can’t get our stove to do a real low simmer.
Overall – 9/10!!
That’s wonderful to hear Richard! Thanks for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed this! N xx