This Beef Rendang was one of the dishes I learned how to cook one rainy afternoon at Russel Wong’s home (yes, the Russel Wong from Bourdain’s Singapore espisode). His wife Judy can cook about as well as Russel can shoot a portrait, after an afternoon sweating over a wok, we were sitting down with friends to an eight course feast in Russel’s photo studio. While it was tough picking a favorite dish from that night, I found myself going back to the Rendang more than any other dish.
The flavors of Beef Rendang unfold in layers, like a stick of Willy Wonka’s three-course-dinner chewing gum. First there’s the zingy flavors of lemongrass and ginger, then comes the savory beef along with a torrent of chili, finally, as you continue to chew you start tasting the creamy coconut milk towards the back of your tongue.
Throughout the Rendang lesson, Judy hammered home two things: 1) Rendang is not rendang if it has a sauce 2) Rendang always tastes better the next day.
That’s because Beef Rendang was originally created as a method of preserving meat. Before refrigeration was available, when wealthy Minangkabau farmers dispatched a cow for a special occasion it was often turned into Rendang. With its blistering spiciness (capsaicin is an antimicrobial), low moisture content and high fat content, Rendang provided a way to make the kill last for weeks in the sweltering Indonesian heat.
First a spice paste is fried to bring out the flavors, then the meat is braised with the spice paste and coconut milk, then after nearly all the liquid has evaporated, the remaining sauce is caramelized by frying it in the oil that the meat released during braising. This creates an extremely flavorful coating on the outside of the beef, which eventually absorbs back into the meat, making Rendang improve in flavor over time. By the way, if this recipe sounds like too much of an investment in time, I’ve developed a Chicken Rendang recipe that comes together in about an hour and still delivers exceptional flavor.
For those of us who aren’t lucky enough to be able to head down to a local shop and pick up fresh coconut milk (or lack the patience to grate the coconut and extract it ourselves), I’ve found a good alternative that beats the canned stuff. It’s a coconut powder created by spray drying fresh coconut milk, a process that rapidly removes the liquid preserving the flavor profile of fresh coconut milk. It’s sold in 50 gram packets by a company called Kara and makes about 1 cup of coconut milk per pack.
Units
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2.5 centimeters fresh ginger (roughly chopped)
- 4 large cloves garlic (roughly chopped)
- 200 grams shallots (4 large roughly chopped)
- 3 tablespoons chili pepper flakes (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 900 grams beef shanks or shortribs (cut into large cubes)
- 2 stalks lemongrass (white part only, smashed)
- 4 kaffir lime leaves
- 2.5 centimeters galangal (sliced into coins)
- 2 packs coconut cream powder (or 1 can coconut milk)
- 1 tablespoons coconut sugar (brown sugar can be substituted)
Instructions
- Add all the salt, coriander, turmeric, ginger, garlic, shallots, and chili flakes to a food processor and run until there are no clumps left and you have a smooth spice paste. You'll need to scape the bowl down a few times.
- Add the oil to a heavy bottomed pot and heat over medium high heat until shimmering. Fry the beef in batches, allowing each surface to brown before turning. Transfer the browned beef to a bowl and repeat with the remaining meat.
- Add the lemongrass, lime leaves and galangal to the hot oil and fry until fragrant. Transfer to the bowl with the browned beef, leaving the oil in the pot.
- Turn down the heat to medium low, and then add the spice paste. Fry, stirring constantly until very fragrant and most of the moisture has evaporated (about 10-15 minutes). If the paste starts burning, reduce the heat and add a bit of water.
- Rehydrate the coconut cream powder in 2 cups of water and then add it to the pot along with the palm sugar Return the beef and herbs to the pot, stir to combine the turn the heat down to medium low and loosely cover with a lid (you want some steam to escape). Stir the rendang periodically and simmer for 3-4 hours until the meat is very tender.
- Once the meat is tender and most of the liquid has evaporated (about 4 hours), remove the lid and turn up the heat.At this point there should be quite a bit of oil in the pot from the meat so you're essentially frying the sauce and concentrating the flavors.You'll need to stir the mixture constantly to prevent it from burning, but you want to evaporate as much liquid as you can without burning the meat.Keep in mind that oil does not evaporate, so you will still have a bit of oil at the bottom of the pan.
- The rendang is done when there is almost no sauce left and the meat is dark brown. Ideally you'll let this sit overnight for the flavors to evenly distribute into the meat. During this time, the meat will turn chocolate colored and the flavors will deepen. Serve the beef rendang with steamed rice.
jasminerice says
The recipe sounds very promising. I am very familiar with beef rendang and love it. Thank you for mentioning about the coconut cream. I have to try it. I personally do not like to substitute the fresh/frozen coconut with the canned coconut milk. I just don’t like the taste
Nura ZA says
Thank you very much for sharing this recipe! This has been my “go to” rendang recipe for a number of years now, actually. It rastes legit!
Marc Matsumoto says
You’re welcome! I’m so glad to hear you’ve been enjoying it!
AndyR says
Fantastic recipe, I made this dish before using store bought pastes, never again. An absolute must is to make sure there is almost liquid left, it takes time but is well worth the wait. And it tastes incredible next day.
outRIAAge says
Hi Marc: I can’t find the earlier comments. I’m looking for the conversation in which you and I and a few more people crowdsourced the idea of a sous vide halibut rendang? I never wrote the damn thing down!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi outRIAAge, I vaguely remember the conversation, but not enough to remember the crowdsourced recipe. I guess if I were going to do this with sous vide halibut, I’d make the sauce separately. The kay to getting the sauce right is to caramelize all the aromatics, and then boil down the coconut milk it it achieves the right consistency. The oil from the coconut milk will separate by that point, so then you might consider emulsifying this into a thinner sauce by blending the resulting rendang paste and oil with some fresh coconut milk and lecithin.
Rose Groeneweg says
I love this. I lived in Malaysia before an I loved the Asia food. I looking for how I can make the paste on my own because it is more taste this way and health. Thanks a lot and I will keep following you
Marc Matsumoto says
I Rose, I hope you enjoy!
Shawna says
Do you leave in the fridge overnight, or just on the stove it in a cold oven?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Shawna, historically rendang was created to preserve meat without refrigeration, however for food safety reason I recommend you refrigerate it.
Jen says
After less than an hour of cooking under low heat….. almost all the liquid was gone and the beef was still really hard…. I’m not sure what I did wrong…. the recipe only calls for 2 cups of coconut powder milk… it evaporated really quickly and I didn’t have any oil left over either. I ended up adding a cup of water and covering the lid completely to not let it dry out. But the flavor wasn’t very strong.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Jen, the amount of liquid should be sufficient. There are a couple of possibilities here. The most likely is that your heat is up too high. If you have different size burners on your stove, try putting the pot on a smaller burner. At medium low, it should still be lightly simmering (very small bubbles), but it should not be boiling. The other possibility is that your lid wasn’t covering the pot enough. The lid should just slightly ajar from fully covering the pot. As for the toughness, unless you cooked the beef 3-4 hours it will be tough. If you did cook it that long and it was still tough, the cut you use likely did not have enough fat and collagen. When cooking any meat for a long amount of time, it’s important to use one with a lot of fat and gristle. This is what breaks down over time, lubricating the meat and making it fall-apart tender.
Jen says
Thank you for that information. I ended up adding more water and powdered coconut milk to continue cooking until the meat was tendered. After 4.5 hours it was definitely amazingly tender. Dish came out really good still. Was wondering why I had no oil at all while cooking. What produces the oil? A friend told me the oil usually comes from the coconut milk. I used the powdered form you recommended.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Jen, I’m glad to hear it ended up working out in the end. Some fat should come from the coconut cream (the powdered kind has fat), but most of it will come from the beef. When you’re braising things for a very long time, the fat and collagen melts out of the beef lubricating the meat. This is why it’s important to use a cut with lots of fat and gristle.
Mika says
I’ve made this a few times, and usually according to this recipe. Next weekend I’m going to make it again, and I was searching for this recipe but didn’t find it at first – and none of the ones I found compared to this! Luckily I stumbled upon this and recognized it from the photos. Now it’s safely bookmarked. 🙂 Thanks, rendang truly is one of the best dishes ever!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Mika, I’m glad to hear you’ve been enjoying this. Sorry to hear you had trouble finding it again, but I’m glad to hear you’ve bookmarked it this time👍🏽 We have a lot of other delicious Asian recipes, so I hope you’ll try some of the other ones out!
Mandi Lowe says
This was amazing!! Hubby and I love a good rendang, it’s a top pick for us at any Malay restaurant. I made this low FODMAP, which means I swapped out the shallot for spring onion tips, and garlic oil instead of garlic. The rempah worked up really quick, and I used cubed mutton instead of beef. I did mine in the slow cooker for 7hrs, and it was sooooo tender! Hubby even said he’s had tougher rendang at hawker centres here in Singapore. So good, it’s going into our recipe rotation.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Mandi, I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing your tips on making this low FODMAP.
Emily says
Hi Marc, I followed your (Judy’s) recipe to a T (except the dried coconut powder) and I have to say that it is GORGEOUS!! A Singaporean myself, this is the best recipe I have come across and I am not a big Rendang fan.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Emily, I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it! If you have fresh coconut milk available that’s definitely a better options.
Pippa says
My favourite rendang recipe. Made it many times, so rich & delicious, highly recommend
Marc Matsumoto says
Thanks Pippa! Glad to hear you’re enjoying it!
George says
I’ve made this recipe three times and have since printed it. I’ve shared the rendang with 30-40 people as small tasters. My young children can’t get enough, which is surprising because it has some kick! Big thank you for this post. George from Canada
Marc Matsumoto says
You’re welcome George, I’m so glad to hear your family is enjoying it! Thanks for stopping by to let me know!
Togfiado says
I have tried many Rendang recipes but this is the one I come back to time and again, Just about to make it again, adapted, with a small rolled short-rib joint (half a kilo). Apart from the absolutely delicious flavour the thing that initially attracted me was the photo showing what the dish should look like after each hour. Gave me confidence and kept me calm.Also so impressed after my first attempt I even managed to source some Kara coconut powder on ebay. Have now found a very acceptable substitute here in the UK from SpicesontheWeb.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Togfiado, I’m glad to hear you’ve been enjoying this. Thank you for taking the time to let me know that seeing the progression of the dish hour by hour was helpful. Have a great week!
Sasha says
I have been making this dish for the 10 past years since I have discovered it traveling Indonesia. One of my faves! I add generous amount of chili flakes as we love hot 🔥 dishes. Thank you and bon appetite!