Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Make the spice paste
- 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
Prep Ingredients
- 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.
Fry the spice paste and beef
- 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.
Cook
- 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.
Serve
- 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!
