Dang, This Stew is Good: Beef Rendang

In the hopes that my exploits in the kitchen would have some sort of cosmic power over the temperature gods (and armed with the foresight knowing that my wishes for fall weather would come through by the end of the week), I made beef stew.  Beef rendang, to be more precise.

Rendang is traditionally prepared in Malaysia during festive occasions such as weddings.   According to Wikipedia, in 2011 an online poll by 35,000 people held by CNN International chose Rendang as the number one dish of their ‘World’s 50 Most Delicious Foods (Readers’ Pick)’ list.  Take that information how you will, but I will agree this is one tasty dish.

beef finished

I grew up eating curry, and have made and eaten a lot of it.  Hey, in retrospect, I feel like half of all the African food that I made was some sort of curry. In any case, I’ve found in my travels, both abroad and in making the restaurant rounds, that every family’s curry and every restaurant’s curry is different.  In all the curries I’ve made, this one really stood out from the bunch.

I can’t exactly decipher why exactly- the ingredients are not really all that out of the ordinary from what I’d normally use…maybe the proportions? Maybe the tamarind concentrate that I serendipitously found while wandering around the Asian supermarket. Whatever the reason, this isn’t your typical takeaway curry, and 100% worth giving it a try. I think that, even without the tamarind, it’d still be one of the best curries you’ve ever eaten.

tamarind

This is what tamarind concentrate looks like. When talking to Mama Buddha she was like “yeah, I use that all the time…Bring me some.” What?!?! Who knew?

Recipe from The Essential Asian Cookbook

Beef Rendang
Serves 6
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Ingredients
  1. 2 onions, chopped
  2. 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  3. 5 red chilies, seeded
  4. 1 TB fresh ginger
  5. 2 cups coconut milk
  6. 1 TB oil
  7. 1 TB cumin
  8. 1 TB ground coriander
  9. 1 tsp turmeric
  10. 1 tsp cinnamon
  11. ¼ tsp ground cloves
  12. ¼ tsp chili powder
  13. 1 large strip lemon rind
  14. 2 lbs chuck or skirt steak, cubed
  15. 1 TB lemon juice
  16. 1 TB brown sugar
  17. 1 tsp tamarind concentrate
  18. Cilantro, for garnish
  19. Rice, for serving
  20. Salt and Pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Place the onion, garlic, chilies, ginger and 2 TB coconut milk in a food processor and process until a smooth paste is formed. In a bowl, place the beef and thoroughly coat with the paste.
  2. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the beef, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, chili powder, lemon rind and stir until the meat is well coated with the spices.
  3. Add the remaining coconut milk and bring to a boil then simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally for about 1 ½ hours or until the meat is tender and the mixture is almost dry.
  4. When the oil starts to separate from the gravy, add the lemon juice, sugar and tamarind. Stir until heated through. Serve with jasmine rice.
Notes
  1. This is a “dry” curry which doesn’t have tons of liquid. Tastes better when made up ahead.
Adapted from Chrissy
Adapted from Chrissy
The Hungary Buddha Eats the World https://thehungarybuddha.com/

chiliI removed all of the seeds. While I like hot foods, the seeds of 5 chilies was more than I thought I could handle.  Just don’t touch your eyes after handling this…

 

rawbeef

 

rotibeefSee the roti? Stay tuned…


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