Orchard Road's Beef Rendang Recipe

Words by Jon Everall

Photos by Steve Painter

INGREDIENTS

1kg diced beef chuck (into 5cm cubes)

15g ginger

2 banana shallots

2 red chillies

2 lemongrass

3 dried chillies

3 garlic cloves

2 kaffir lime leaves

18g ground coriander

10g ground cumin

1 bay leaf

1 can coconut milk

Cinnamon stick

16g brown sugar

Handful of toasted desiccated coconut

METHOD

As tradition goes, curry pastes were once crafted with a pestle and mortar. But let’s be honest, in a busy kitchen, speed and sanity win. That’s why this recipe has been road-tested and approved with a modern twist…the mighty food processor. Here in the Orchard Road kitchen, we’re appliance-friendly and unashamed!

1. Preheat oven to 160°C

2. Soak your dried chillies in boiling water prior to starting your paste.

3. Roughly chop your ginger, shallots, red chillies, lemongrass and dried chillies to make the blending of the paste easier. This is especially important if making the paste in a pestle and mortar, unless you want a killer arm workout.

4. Place your roughly chopped ingredients into a food processor (or pestle and mortar) and blitz it until smooth. You may need to add water to this to help loosen it up, but you want it to remain thick and able to hold its shape, not runny.

5. Add your ground coriander and ground cumin to the paste and blitz it until incorporated.

6. Cook your curry paste in a pan with some oil on a low heat. You want to do this for roughly 10 minutes or until the paste is fragrant and splits. This is when the fried paste and the oil separate.

7. In a casserole dish, mix your diced beef with your cooked curry paste and mix it all together until all your meat is coated. At this point you can add additional seasonings like

salt, pepper and MSG (it’s not evil, it's delicious).

8. Add the bay leaf, kaffir lime leaves, cinnamon stick and brown sugar to the dish then top with a can of coconut milk.

9. If the meat is not fully submerged, top up with some water.

10. Braise in the oven for 4-5 hours, stirring regularly, until beef is soft and tender.

11. Whilst your Rendang is cooking, toast the desiccated coconut until golden brown and fragrant. Your kitchen will smell like heaven!

12. Once your Rendang is cooked, stir in some of your toasted coconut, leaving some for garnish.

Serve with rice and top with the rest of your toasted coconut.

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