Recipe: Straits Chinese Style Rendang for your festive feasting
By: Wilson Wang
Rempah (Spice mix)
Wet Spices
15-25 dried chillies (depending on how hot you like it) - soak in water to soften for at least 30mins
Two fingers of ginger
Two fingers of turmeric (kunyit)
Two fingers of galangal (lengkuas)
10 cloves of garlic
One and a half (large) yellow onions
3 stalks of lemongrass
4 turmeric leaves
A handful of Kaffir Lime leaves
Dry Spices/Ingredients
10 cloves
3 star anise
2 sticks of cinnamon (one if using Sri Lankan cinnamon)
5 pods of cardamom
2 teaspoons of coriander seeds
Meat
1kg of Beef (tough cuts)
Fat
400ml of coconut milk
1 litre of coconut water
200g of shredded coconut (coconut noir preferred otherwise white is fine)
To taste
1/3 block of Gula Melaka (use a cleaver to shred it off)
2 teaspoons of salt
Utensils:
A massive pot
A tool to stir (wooden spoon is best)
Prep work:
Pound all the dry ingredients except cinnamon and star anise into a rough powder
Pound all the roots (turmeric, galangal) into a paste
Chop lemongrass finely then pound to separate them into short, thin threads
Blitz finely garlic, chillies, onions and put them separately into bowls
Slice thinly 3/4 of kaffir like leaves
Slice thinly 3/4 of turmeric leaves
(Set rest of leaves aside to sprinkle on top before serving)
Toast shredded coconut in a heated oven at 170 degrees for 40 mins. Take out and stir at least twice during roasting
Pour some oil into the pot. Make sure the base is coated with a layer of oil (grapeseed or groundnut is best).
Fry onions first until softened and slightly brown
Add garlic to fry until soft
Make a well in the middle, add another few tablespoons of oil and plop in the dry ingredients, and fry until fragrance is released. Mix thoroughly.
Make another well. Add more oil and dump in the paste of roots and lemongrass and mix everything in.
Now stir in the chillies mixture.
Let mixture reduce for 10 minutes - when the oil starts to separate a little, your rempah is set!
Chuck the beef (cut into cubes) into the mix and stir to coat beef evenly in the rempah. Add a little oil prior if things are sticking to pot.
Once thoroughly coated add in 5/6 of toasted coconut.
Add coconut milk
Add coconut water
Let it come to a boil then lower heat to simmer
Keep stirring-at least every 10 mins. And keep scraping off any bits that are stuck to bottom. They may look brown but most of the time they are caramelised, not burnt. Unless of course if you leave them on too long! The reduction and softening process will take at least one and a half to two hours on the stove for this amount (amounts augmented to larger volumes will take much longer).
The dryness of the gravy depends on your preference. I personally prefer a very thick gravy that’s almost dry. Some like totally dry paste that sticks to meat. Some like more wet (a trick to make it even richer is to add 200ml it coconut milk to it after it is dry or just stop when it’s wet enough for you).
Season with gula Melaka and salt to taste. Add much more if you like it very sweet (then it becomes Kelantan style). Salt is a must though.
Additional notes:
You can get whole coconuts and chuck in the scooped flesh too for coconut water
If you can’t get freshly shredded coconut, ask for Kerisik (usually available at supermarkets or provision shops) and use 100g instead of 200g
Beef shins and rumps are good. Don’t bother with expensive cuts
If you can get your hands on coconut nectar wine, a generous splash of it is amazing at the end of cooking.
Serve with omelette and achar on rice
Leftovers are great as toast with emmental (or other nutty types like harvati) cheese or stir-fried Bee Hoon or Chapatis. Totally versatile.
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