Here is my personal spicy Indonesian beef rendang recipe! You are going to adore this rich South-East Asian curry with stewed beef, a bunch of spices and creamy coconut milk!
have you ever heard of rendang before?
I love this beef stew.
But let me warn you: the local Malaysian rendang is not for the faint of heart! It can be extremely spicy. So if your stomach doesn’t do well with spice, then you might choose to add far less red chillies!
Just to be sure, I made my beef rendang recipe not too spicy.
Spicy
Better call it safe, even though both me and the hubs love a good spicy dinner. However a traditional rendang should be very spicy.
My sensitive European taste buds are not made for the classic 10 plus dried red chillies every traditional rendang recipe ask for. I just added 2 of them and that turned out to be more than enough for us.
I will never forget the very first time that I tasted this dish.
Easy Beef Rendang Recipe (Rendang Daging)
That was in picturesque Cherating, Malaysia.
I can not think of any other food I had that was more spicier than that beef rendang right there. The tears were running down my cheeks, I thick I even lost a contact lens. In every spoonful of beef there was a dried chili sticking out.
No joke.
Because I couldn’t find any fresh kaffir lime leaves around where I live to add to the rendang curry, I used an alternative. A fresh lime that I squeeze out first I’m only using the zesty skins for the flavor.
Kaffir Lime Leaves
What a great idea that turned out to be!
Keep the lime juice aside for another recipe.
Do you love beef stews?
Then also check out my Flemish beef karbonaden!
Enjoy!
Easy Beef Rendang Recipe
My spicy Indonesian beef rendang recipe: a rich South-East Asian curry with stewed beef, lots of spices and coconut milk!
- 2 1/3 lbs beef chuck (1,050 kg), diced
- 1 red onion or shallot
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 cups coconut milk (720 ml)
- 2- inch fresh ginger (5 cm)
- 3 tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar
- 3 tbsp grated coconut toasted
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 8 cardamom pods
- 3 stalks lemongrass
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 dried chilies
- 2 tbsp tamarind juice
- 1 fresh lime
- 1 star anise
- vegetable oil
- nutmeg
- hot chili sauce
- 1 beef bouillon cube
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Peel the red onion (or shallot), garlic and ginger. Add them to a blender together with the turmeric and red chillies.
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Blend for a few seconds until you get a chunky paste.
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Then pour a little vegetable oil in a high pan. Also add the spice paste, star anise, cardamom pods, tamarind juice, cinnamon stick, beef stock cube, lemongrass (crush it well under the blade of your knife) and a pinch of nutmeg.
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Place the pan over high heat. Stir fry the spices for a minute until fragrant. Then add the diced beef.
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Give the ingredients a good stir. Cook for 6 minutes until the beef is seared on all sides. Then squeeze the lime (keep the juice for another recipe) and add the empty skins to the beef. Also add the grated coconut and palm (or brown) sugar.
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Then pour in the coconut milk.
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Stir well. Bring the coconut milk to a good boil and leave it there for 5 minutes. Then turn the heat low, cover the pan and simmer the beef for 90 minutes to 2 hours until it is extremely soft and smooth. Add extra water or coconut milk if necessary.
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In the end check the seasoning and then add extra salt, sugar or chili sauce to taste. Scoop the stew onto deep plates and serve.
