Malaysian Cooking Class Part II: Beef Rendeng

By Jen -



Apparently there are many regional variations on this dish. The one I learned comes from the Terengganu region of Malaysia along the eastern coast.

Ingredients:

Curry Paste mixture:

30 g  onion, finely chopped
30 g  minced garlic
2 sticks of lemongrass, chopped into 2 inch pieces
20 g   minced ginger
20 g   turmeric minced
2 g     fresh turmeric leaves
20 g   fresh galangal minced 

-"the four brothers"
3 pcs cloves
1 stick cinnamon
3 pcs star anise
3 pcs cardamon seed

vegetable oil

100 g beef, thinly sliced 1-2 inch width or chicken thinly sliced

30g   fried grated coconut*
30 g  chili paste
30 g  palm sugar - broken up
30 ml  coconut milk
100 ml  water

Heat oil in pan or wok.  Add in the curry paste ingredients - stir until aromatic. Add in the 4 bro spices, stirring continuously until mixture is golden brown.  Add in chili paste and fried grated coconut.

Add in meat and cook for two minutes.

Add water and palm sugar, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer until most of the liquid is gone. Meat should be cooked. Add in coconut milk and season to taste.

salt to taste 

*fried grated coconut can be made from scratch but different regions do this differently. In this particular class up in Terengganu, the paste was dark but not burnt. You can buy it at the open air wet market in small containers. So it will take some experimentation to get the right consistency - and in the long run, whether golden brown or darker - does it all work the same? We will see!

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