Beef Rendang

I made beef rendang last week having seen this and this post about the Dinner Diary and Food Urchin versions and also seeing Rick Stein make it on his Far Eastern Odyssey.

It's a labour of love really, roasting the seeds, making the paste, browning the meat, then waiting.....even for more than 24 hours in some cases though sadly I lack the patience when it come to food to leave anything for more than the required cooking time. This was made and eaten on the same day, served wirth brown rice and a wedge of lemon. It was deeply flavoured and spicy, 5 chillis, seeds and all went into the paste but this is certainly about heat. The amounts here served 2 of us, for lunch and dinner but we are very greedy. I effectively doubled Kerri and Stephen's recipe adding a little more here and there.


For the curry paste:

1 tbsp coriander seed
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 sticks lemongrass
6 garlic cloves
5 red chillis
2 onions
zest of 1 lime
thumbsize piece of ginger root

1 kg braising beef
2 tins coconut milk
2 tbs vegetable oil
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp tamarind paste
Salt
zest and juice of half a lemon

So I started by toasting the seeds for a few minutes then whizzing together in my handy little chopper all the indredients for the paste.

Then add the oil to a large pan and brown the meat. Once all sides are browned, add the paste, the lemon zest, the tamarind paste, salt and 3/4s of the coconut milk. Allow this to cook on a low heat for 2 hours. Adding a little more coconut milk if necessary and at the last minute add the lemon juice.

The consistency should be thick and mud like. This is where it benefits from leaving in the fridge overnight. Serve with rice, fresh sliced red chilli, coriander and a wedge of lemon.