Monday 3 February 2014

Beef Rendang with Banana Coconut Salad













I made this deeeelicious curry because I love eating spicy food and drinking cold beer when the weather is hot and steamy... and so I could say "Best dang Rendang".



Beef Rendang with Banana Coconut Salad
slightly adapted from Annabel Langbein's Free Range in the City
Serves 4 - 6

For the Beef Rendang:
4 small red shallots, roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
4cm piece of fresh ginger, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
4 long red chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped
2 kaffir lime leaves, deribbed and shredded
400ml coconut cream
1 1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon tamarind puree
1kg chuck steak, cut into 4 - 5cm cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 stalks lemongrass
Juice of a lime

For the Banana Coconut Salad:
2 firm bananas
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 shredded coconut, toasted

To Serve:
Lime wedges, steamed rice AND roti (for a carb-fest)

Make the Beef Rendang:
Put the shallots, garlic, ginger, turmeric, chillies, lime leaves and 1/4 cup of the coconut cream into a blender and blitz until smooth.

Put the curry paste into a large pot and heat over medium heat. Cook the curry paste for a couple of minutes, then add the remaining coconut cream, water, tamarind puree, beef, salt and whole lemongrass stalks. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to it's lowest setting, cover the pot and cook for 2 hours, stirring now and then. Once the meat is tender, take the lid off the pot and increase the heat to medium and cook until the sauce is really thick. Beef Rendang is traditionally a really dry dish, so if you want to stick with tradition, cook until almost all of the sauce has gone and you are left with just a concentrated amount hanging onto the meat. I like mine a little wetter than that so I take mine off the heat when there is still enough sauce left to coat my rice and dunk my roti in. You do what suits you. Remove the lemonstalks and add the juice of a lime.

Make the Banana Coconut Salad:
Put the sliced banana into a serving bowl. Sprinkle over the lime juice and toss. Scatter over the toasted shredded coconut and toss again.




18 comments:

  1. This is my favorite dish, Rendang comes originated from Indonesia, I miss that food since 3 years ago live in Germany.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Amallia. I ate beef rendang when I was in Indonesia. It's a world-class dish.

      Delete
  2. My mouth waters terribly....love the flavours!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Best dang Rendand, love it!!! :) I'm sure that the flavours are incredible and that they explosed in your mouth :) & I'm curious about the banana coconut salad...I'm sure it's delicious too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The banana salad adds light sweetness to the rich curry. They go remarkably great together.

      Delete
  4. I just love the sound of this dish: Rendang. What a cool name. Photos are fab as always.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Patty. Whenever I make this, we all go around saying things like "dang, that's good" and "just can't get enough of the dang rendang"... an so forth.

      Delete
  5. This both looks and sounds fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  6. That's it. I'm coming over. That is gorgeous!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Really wanted to try this when I visited Bali recently, but didn't get the chance in the end. So ... thanks for this recipe! Looks pretty easy to make!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome Helen. I have lots of rendang recipes. Some are really complicated. This is one of the simplest and, to my mind, one of the best. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think. :)

      Delete
  8. I love rendang, it's one of my favourite curries... particularly when served with lots of roti to mop up that gorgeous sauce (yes, carbs are gooooood). Love the look of that banana coconut salad. I've never tried anything like that, I'll have to make it next time we have rendang. Yum!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Laura. The banana salad is a dreamy bright accompaniment to the rich unctuous curry... and I'll use any excuse to stuff roti into my pie hole.

      Delete