Malaysian Beef Rendang
- ⏱ 15 hours 20 minutes
- Medium
- Serves 4
- 👥 2-cook recipe
A slow-cooked Malaysian beef rendang with coconut, tamarind, aromatic spices, and toasted coconut.
Adapted from Great British Chefs.
This recipe, inside the app
Two phones, one plan. Tap a step on either phone and watch it tick on the other — that's the live sync, right here in your browser:
Malaysian Beef Rendang
0/0
COOK 1COOK 2
1Prepare aromatics
Peel and roughly chop the onion, peel and roughly...
2Soak the chillies
3Plate and serve
+ 17 more steps in the app
Malaysian Beef Rendang
0/0
COOK 2COOK 1
1Prepare aromatics
2Soak the chillies
Soak the dried chillies in hot water overnight before...
3Plate and serve
+ 17 more steps in the app
Ingredients
- 1 kg beef shin, chuck or cheek (trimmed of all excess tough sinew and cut into 2.5cm cubes)
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 400 g coconut milk
- 60 g palm sugar
- 3 tbsp tamarind paste
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 2 star anise
- 3 cardamom pods (bashed to release the seeds)
- 5 cloves
- 200 g coconut cream
- 50 g desiccated coconut
- 1 red chilli (sliced)
- cucumber, to taste (chopped)
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tsp chilli powder
- 1 large white onion (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 1 knob galangal (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 3 garlic cloves (peeled)
- 2 stalk lemongrass (white bottom part only, roughly chopped)
- 20 dried chillies (soaked in hot water overnight)
- 10 makrut lime leaves (destemmed)
The full plan
Split between two cooks — each step says who's on it.
1. Prepare aromatics COOK 2
- Peel and roughly chop the onion, peel and roughly chop the galangal, peel the garlic, roughly chop the white bottom part of the lemongrass, and destem the makrut lime leaves
2. Soak the chillies COOK 1
- Soak the dried chillies in hot water overnight before using
3. Mise en place COOK 1
- Prep 3 cardamom pods: bash to release the seeds
4. Prepare the beef COOK 1
- Trim the beef of all excess tough sinew and cut it into 2.5cm cubes
5. Darken the coconut cream COOK 2
- Towards the end of the 2 hours, in a microwave-safe bowl, microwave the coconut cream for 2 minutes
- Stir, microwave for another minute, stir again, Microwave for one more minute and stir well, the coconut cream should be a nice golden-brown colour
6. Mise en place COOK 2
- Prep 1 red chilli: slice
7. Mise en place COOK 1
- Prep cucumber: chop
8. Blend the paste COOK 2
- In a blender, add the soaked chillies and the rest of the spice paste ingredients and blend until smooth
🤝 Cook 1 hands over the spice paste.
9. Fry the aromatics COOK 1
- In a pan over medium heat, once hot, add the vegetable oil with the spice paste, cinnamon stick, star anise, cardamom pods, and cloves
- Fry for a few minutes until aromatic
- Add the sugar, tamarind paste, and coconut milk, stir to combine, and heat through for a few minutes
🤝 Cook 2 hands over the spice paste.
10. Cook the beef COOK 1
- Add the diced beef, stir to combine
- Reduce the heat to low
- Cook with a lid on for 2 hours, stirring every few minutes to prevent sticking
11. Finish covered cooking COOK 2
- After the 2 hours of cooking, add the darkened coconut cream to the pan
- Cook with a lid on for 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes
12. Reduce the rendang COOK 2
- Remove the lid from the pan and cook for a final 30 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking
13. Toast the coconut COOK 1
- Meanwhile, toast the desiccated coconut in a hot, dry, non-stick frying pan until golden
14. Plate and serve BOTH
- Serve the rendang sprinkled with desiccated coconut and some sliced red chilli, chopped cucumber, and rice
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