Beef Rendang

Beef Rendang is one of my favourite dishes, and, at least since I’ve returned from Sydney, I eat it at least once a week, although this was the first time that I cooked it myself. It is one of the most popular dishes in Malaysian cuisine, and it seems to have a level of complexity that Malaysians, or at least those in the know, are able to easily overcome. For instance, there are two great Malaysian restaurants (more life fast-food places if you know what I mean) in the city that I get food from often, specifically Beef Rendang, Laksa and Malaysian Chicken Curry, which I plan to cook next week for my parents. The first one is Laksa House on the bottom level of the Queen Victorian Building (QVB), which I’m sure many of you would be familiar with. The second place, which I think is slightly better than Laksa House, is Malay Chinese Takeaway on Hunter Street near the corner of Castlereagh St. It’s an absolutely no-frills type of place, sort of hole-in-the-wall which you often find the best dishes in when you travel throughout Asia. Indeed, if you get there at 11:55, you can go straight up to the counter and order, but ten minutes later there is a queue of at least 20 people because it’s so popular. Their dishes are authentic and just so delectable, and their Beef Rendang just falls apart.

I do believe that that is the key element, or at least one of the key elements, of Beef Rendang. The beef in all the great rendangs that I have tasted have obviously been slow cooked and are melt in your mouth. There is absolutely no toughness in the meat, and as such the texture is probably my most favourite texture for a meat. One of the other key elements in the dish is the gravy. Firstly, the gravy needs to have those authentic Malay flavours such as lemongrass, chilli, galangal and palm sugar, echoing many of the flavours of Thailand and South-East Asian cuisine in general. The cuisine in South-East Asia is at the same time remarkably diverse and yet reliant upon the same primary herbs and spices. Malaysian cuisine is particularly similar to Indonesian cuisine, and they both have similar but unique versions of well known and much loved dishes such as Nasi Goreng and Laksa. Throughout my cooking adventures to come, I plan to cook the Malaysian, Indonesian and even Bruneian versions of Nasi Goreng so that I can gain a perspective of the different approach to this dish. Anyway, returning to the gravy for the Beef Rendang, it also needs to be thick and sufficient to provide enough moisture to accompany the beef. Sometimes, due to the slow cooking method of the beef which can leech out much of the moisture from the beef, the gravy needs to be close to perfect – too thick and it can make the dish dry; too thin and the richness of the spices is lost and the beef won’t achieve the right texture.  

This particular rendang recipe is from Neil Perry, and given that he is arguably Australia’s best chef, I was excited that I had finally found the perfect recipe for rendang that would give me the beef texture and gravy consistency that I love to buy from places like Malay Chinese Takeaway. Let me say firstly that the dish was quite delicious and I enjoyed it as I do all Asian food. Having said that, it didn’t live up to my expectations, as the gravy was thick but was not voluminous enough to accompany the beef, and the beef didn’t achieve that soft, crumbling texture that is involved with beef rendang. Further, the flavours, while still delicious as I said, were sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of chilli used in the dish, whereas beef rendang is usually not a spicy dish at all. The curry paste calls for 12 long red chillies, and even though they are de-seeded, they provided too much spice for a rendang recipe. Next time, I will cut the amount of chilli in half, and increase the amount of liquid involved in the cooking process. As for the beef, the recipe is ambiguous on the cut of beef required. Obviously, I presumed that a cut of beef suited for stewing or slower cooking, such as blade or chuck steak, were ideal, but the beef didn’t tenderise to the degree that I had wanted. I’m not sure if there are more suitable cuts of beef for a dish such as this. I’m starting to wonder if these Malaysian kitchens have access to a secret type of beef that I have no idea about!!! Can anyone help me out with this? I did see that there is a cut of beef called ‘Gravy Beef’ which seems to imply that it would be suitable for a recipe like this and might tenderise to the point of breaking down, but no matter how long I seem to cook chuck or blade steak, I can never reach that melting consistency in the beef.

While my cooking adventures are about constantly discovering new dishes from different parts of the world, they are also about finding and perfecting recipes that I love. So, I will be looking for another Beef Rendang recipe and will keep cooking it until I find a recipe that I’m happy with it. As ever, I will keep everyone up to date on my cooking travails, and invite comments and suggestions from all.

Recipe (serves 2-3):

800g beef, cubed

150g rendang curry paste (see below)

600ml coconut milk

1½ tbs tamarind paste

6 kaffir lime leaves, crushed

1½ tbs grated palm sugar

Rendang curry paste

15g shrimp paste

1 red onion, roughly chopped

5g fresh turmeric, grated, or 1 tsp ground turmeric

Finely grated zest of 1 lime (kaffir lime best)

40g ginger, finely chopped

40g galangal, finely chopped

1 lemongrass stem, white part only chopped

12 long red chillies, deseeded & chopped

8 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Wrap shrimp paste in foil and roast for about 10 mins in a medium oven or until fragrant.

Blend all paste ingredients together until a smooth paste is formed.

Heat a large wok or pan then add the curry paste and fry for around 3 mins or until fragrant.

Add the beef, coconut milk, tamarind and kaffir lime leaves. Simmer, uncovered, for 1-1½ hours until the meat is tender and the gravy has thickened, stirring frequently.

Finally, add the palm sugar and salt to taste. Serve with Nasi Lemak or steamed rice.

Cuisine: Malaysian

Source: “Good Food” by Neil Perry

Rating: Three and a half stars