Beef Rendang, Indonesian Style

Indonesia, the spice islands of history, is an archipelago with 17,508 islands, some 6,000 of which are inhabited. Its cuisine is as diverse as its people, a multitude of ethnic groups spread over the islands.

To name any one dish as being representative of this diversity would be doing Indonesia a disservice. There are, however, many dishes that you will find in Indonesia that have Malaysian variants, and today I feature one of them, Indonesian Beef Rendang.

Where Malaysian beef rendang often features kerisek (desiccated coconut dry roasted over low heat until browned, then pounded to a paste) the Indonesian variant skips this ingredient. To my taste-buds at least, this is preferable as too much of a coconut taste is a little cloying.

The Ingredients

You will require a number of ingredients that you could find in Asian food stores, if you are outside Asia. In fact, the ingredients are commonly found and used in Thailand, so if you have difficulty getting any of them, ask any Thai restaurants in your area where they get their supplies.

Kaffir lime leaves add a nice touch, but if you cannot get them, just omit. In the same vein, traditional Indonesian beef rendang would require salam leaves (daun salam, Eugenia polyantha) but I do not use them because outside Indonesia and Malaysia, it is hardly ever used in cooking and hence difficult to find. Contrary to what some say, bay leaf is not a substitute.

For the beef, choose a nice cut of top round. Using beef of this quality adds to the depth of flavour of the dish. And unlike stewing beef, you will get a much more tender result. Of course, the traditional Indonesian Nasi Padang restaurants would usually use stewing grade beef, so if your memories of Indonesian Beef Rendang are from one of these restaurants, feel free to use stewing beef.

Cooking

This is not a difficult dish to prepare. The list of ingredients is fairly short, and were it not for the fact that it takes quite a bit of time to cook it, I would have rated the recipe ‘easy’. But I will stick with a ‘normal’ rating, as close to 2 hours cooking time is not something to engage in on a busy weeknight!

If you have the heat level right, you will take at least 90 minutes to get to the point where the oil has separated from the coconut cream. The first hour only needs the odd glance to check that the dish is not drying out too quickly – you want it to simmer long enough that the beef gets really tender. If it does dry out too soon, add a bit of water.

After the first hour, pay more attention to the dish, stirring occasionally. At the point where you see the oil separating, then you need to stir constantly until the beef darkens and the oil is absorbed. This should take 15 – 20 minutes. The spice paste would also be fairly dry, and visually it would be close to the kerisek that you find in Malaysian beef rendang. Taste however, is rather different.

Serving

Like many beef curry recipes, beef rendang actually improves in flavour if you leave it to sit for several hours (in the refrigerator of course) or even overnight. All you need to do is re-heat it by stir-frying briefly.

Some people garnish with crispy fried shallots for an added dimension in taste. I usually skip this as I enjoy the rich spicy beef rendang flavour as is, but do try it at least once for the experience.

Serve with steamed rice. This dish is rather dry, so it helps to have an Asian style soup on the side, or at least another dish with gravy.

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