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authentic Malaysian Beef Rendang served in a little wooden bowl

Beef Rendang Recipe

Beef Rendang is a MUST TRY for curry lovers! This boldly spiced Malaysian Beef Stew is seriously tasty and has an incredible depth of flavour! The perfect meal for a fun weekend dinner party with friends.

Course main
Cuisine Asia, Malaysia
Keyword beef rendang recipe, curry with kerisik, Malaysian curry recipe
Prep Time 25 Minuten
Cook Time 30 Minuten
Let simmer 1 Stunde 30 Minuten
Total Time 55 Minuten
Servings 2 people
Calories 670 kcal
Author Kiki Johnson

Ingredients

  • For the spice paste
  • 6 small dried chillies
  • 2 fresh red chillies f.ex Thai chilies
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 2 cm piece of fresh ginger
  • 3 Shallots

For the Rendang

  • 2 lemongrass sticks
  • 80 g desiccated coconut or fresh shredded coconut
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 1 cinnamon stick 4 to 5 cm long
  • 3 cardamom pods
  • 250 ml coconut milk
  • 450 g beef stewing meat
  • 2 tbsp tamarind paste
  • 2 Kaffir Lime Leaves
  • Rice to serve

Instructions

  1. Soak the dried chilies in warm water for 10 minutes, then deseed and chop roughly. Halve, deseed and chop the fresh chilies. Peel garlic, ginger and shallots and roughly chop them. Put all the ingredients for the paste into the food processor, add a splash of water and blitz into a spice paste.

  2.  Remove the outer leaves of the lemongrass stick. Chop the tender part of the lemongrass stalk into thin slices. Cut the woodier, upper part of the lemongrass into 3 cm long chunks. Put those 3cm pieces on your cutting board and smash them with a heavy pan for a couple of times. This helps to release the flavour. Set aside.

  3. Toast the coconut in a pan without the addition of any oil until golden brown and set aside to cool. You can blitz it in the food processor to make it a bit finer, if you want.

  4.  Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a pan over medium heat and add finely chopped lemongrass, the spice paste, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom and let fry for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once in a while. Add 3 tbsp coconut milk and fry for 1 more minute.

  5. Toss meat and the hard lemongrass chunks into the pan and fry for another 10 minutes, stirring to avoid any sticking.

  6. Add the rest of the coconut milk, tamarind paste and 200 ml of water, put the lid on and reduce the heat to low. Let simmer for 30 minutes, then add lime leaves, 1 tbsp sugar, 0,5 tsp of salt and toasted coconut. Let simmer for 1,5 h until the sauce is thick and the meat is super tender. Season with salt and sugar to taste and serve with rice.

For making in the Slow Cooker

  1. To make this in a slow cooker, do the first 5 steps up to searing the beef in a pan then pour the contents in your slow cooker. Pour 1/2 cup water or coconut milk into the pan you used 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!). That is where the flavor is. Slow cook on low for 6 hours. Then pour the curry into a pot and let simmer uncovered to reduce the sauce.

Pressure cooker / instant pot

  1. Follow step 1-5 in sautee mode. Then pressure cook on high for 30 minutes, allow to depressurize naturally for 10 minutes before releasing steam.

Recipe Notes

Beef Rendang, like other slow cooked curries just gets better with time so make a whole bunch! Great on the day and fantastic the next day. Freezes well too.