“Blauwe hap,” or “Blue bite” is a phrase I learned in the Navy. It meant that we’d be eating Indonesian food in the mess hall. This was always on a Wednesday, and it’s the day I looked most forward to. Perfectly steamed rice surrounded by all sorts of flavorful, and sometimes spicy Indonesian dishes. One of my favorite dishes was, and still is, beef rendang. This is a flavorful, slightly spicy, Indonesian beef stew. But, unlike typical beef stews, the sauce is almost completely cooked down, leaving the fall-apart tender pieces of beef coated in a thick, rich paste-like sauce.
While the preparations for this recipe are not difficult, the cooking time is quite long and requires frequent stirring. However, the scents in your kitchen alone, while it’s cooking along, are worth it! Rendang is best served with white rice!
If you double or triple this recipe, please be aware that the cooking time will increase greatly!
Beef Rendang: Indonesian Beef Stew
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Slice two garlic cloves thinly
- Chop up an onion finely. You will need two tablespoons.
- In a food processor (or mortar and pestle) create a paste from:
- 2 tablespoons of the chopped onion
- Sliced garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoons of salt
- 1 teaspoon of chili flakes
- turmeric
- Cut the beef chuck into large chunks
- Cut off a 5cm x 5cm piece of lemon peel (2" x 2")
- Peel and cut a piece of ginger, approximately 0.5cm (1/4") thick.
- Cut and peel the galangal into three slices, approximately 0.5cm (1/4") thick.
- Put a large Dutch Oven over medium heat, and heat up 2 tablespoons of oil.
- Add the spice paste, and stir constantly for 2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Over high heat, add the beef, and cook it for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure all the sides of the chunks of beef are seared.
- Add the coconut milk, lemon peel, ginger, galangal, and Salam leaves, stir everything together.
- Let the beef simmer over low heat for several hours, until the sauce is almost all cooked down. Stir occasionally, and scrape up anything sticking to the bottom of the pot. There will be oil pooling on top; we will discard that when done, but leave it on there while cooking.If you're not sure if the sauce is cooked down enough, tilt the pan slightly to the oil moves to one side, and the beef stays on the other. If the oil is clear (it'll be yellow), and the beef appears to have almost no sauce left, you're done! If there is a lot of sauce mixed through the oil, or the beef still has visible sauce, you need to cook it longer!The beef will be falling apart; that is ok, but try to make sure you leave the bigger chunks intact.
- When the beef is cooked down, skim off all the oil, and remove the ginger, galangal, and salam leaves.The lemon peel will be completely dissolved in the stew.
- Put some rice on a plate, and add the Rendang next to it. Serve with some sambal on the table, if people like it spicier!
