I think the best part of growing up overseas would have to be the food,
and Beef Rendang is one of my all-time favourites.
I didn’t discover this luscious curry until I was in my teens, but once we met, it was love at first sight!
Curries were always big in my family, with my grand-father coming from Mauritian heritage, but they were always searingly hot-burn off your tastebuds kind of curries. Always in a lovely thick gravy-like sauce to drown your rice in. Nan would always make a couple of tantalising condiments to go with them – tomato and onion salad, finely diced cucumber in yoghurt, and banana slices drizzled in lemon juice and then tossed in dried coconut.
My love for curries grew when we had our three years in Pakistan,
especially when I discovered the delights of naan and chapati (back in my gluten-free hey-day), but it wasn’t until we moved to Malaysia in my teens that I really knew about coconut-based curries. What really sets the beef rendang apart though, is it’s a dry curry. By dry, I don’t mean overcooked beef that’s dry and chewy – on the contrary, the meat is succulent, fall-apart-tender and beautifully juicy. But the gravy itself is dry. Rather than being soupy like most other curries I had eaten, this one is reduced down and then thickened with dried coconut so that it coats the meat in a rich spicy hug!
I usually serve it on a bed of rice (you could easily use cauliflower rice if you’re low-carb or want to sneak in an extra serve of veggies), and to bring my grandparents to the table in spirit, I always make Nan’s tomato and onion salad! Because yoghurt is off the menu for us now, I sometimes make a cashew-cream based sauce, similar to a raita too. Although, I’ve finally found a coconut yoghurt that I actually like, so next time I make it, you can bet that cucumber in yoghurt will be on the table!
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Beef Rendang
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Dessicated coconut
- 1 green onion
- 1 finger turmeric, fresh grated
- 2 tsp Lemongrass chopped
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 tsp ginger, fresh grated
- 1 Red chilli
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp Ground coriander
- 1 1/2 tsp Ground cumin
- 1 stick Cinnamon
- 2 Cloves
- 1 Star anise
- 3 pods Cardamom
- 500 g Stewing beef
- 1 1/2 tsp Tamarind pulp
- 1/2 lime juice & zest
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 2 tsp Brown sugar
Instructions
- Toast coconut and set aside.
- Blend together paste ingredients (spring onion, turmeric, lemongrass, garlic, ginger & chilli) in a food processor or blender.
- Heat oil, add spice paste and dry spices. Fry til fragrant.
- Add beef and stir to coat.
- Add tamarind, lime juice and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then lower to a gentle simmer for 1 hour. Put a lid on the saucepan for the first 30 minutes. If the gravy dries out, add extra water to keep it moist, but not soupy.
- Add lime zest, brown sugar and toasted coconut.
- Continue to simmer until meat is tender and the gravy as reduced to a coating on the meat rather than a liquid sauce (another 1-2 hours), but keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t completely dry out and burn.
Notes
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