A classic Asian curry that lets the oven do all the hard work.
Whether you have it sticky and traditional, or a saucy alternative, the flavour will be big and the effort minimal.
Ingredients (serves 4-6)
700g braising steak
1 x large onion
2 x lemongrass
3 x fresh chillies (2 if large)
2 thumbs of fresh ginger
4 x large garlic cloves
1 x lime
2 x tablespoon of sugar (preferably soft brown but doesn’t really matter too much)
400ml (1 tin) of Coconut milk
2 x tablespoon ground coriander
2 x tablespoon cinnamon
2 x tablespoon turmeric
200ml water
Basic Summary
- Blend onion, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, and chillies
- Cut up beef into large cubes
- Lightly fry the blended ingredients for 2-3 minutes
- Add dry spices (ground coriander, cinnamon, turmeric) and mix well
- Add beef and mix in the paste
- Add coconut milk, water, and lime juice
- Cook for 1 hour with lid on
- Cook for a further 1.5 hours without the lid on
Prep.
TIP: Read through the full recipe before starting.
First thing to do is blend/blitz the non powdered ingredients into a paste, so:
Peel and roughly chop the garlic.
Cut the skin off the ginger and chop up into small pieces (easier to blend).
Roughly chop the chillies and onion (deseeding 2 of the chillies if you don’t want it very hot).
Chop off the root end of the lemongrass then peel the outer layers away and slice up the rest.
Blend all the above in a food processor until as smooth as possible.
Roughly chop up the steak into fairly large cubes (approx 2cm).
Make.
{Preheated oven at 150°C}
Get your largest casserole dish on the hob at a medium heat.
When the pan is hot, add some oil and then the blended ingredients to lightly fry for a few minutes.
After a few minutes, add the dry spices (ground coriander, cinnamon, turmeric) and sugar and mix well. The mixture should now resemble a more familiar curry paste mixture.
After a few minutes of frying the paste, making sure it doesn’t burn, add the steak and mix in well with the paste.
Once mixed in you can now add the coconut milk, lime juice, and water.
Mix everything together well in the dish then add to the oven for 2 hours 30 minutes in total.
I suggest 1 hour with the lid on, and then the last hour and a half without the lid on to thicken up.
NOTE: Depending on the desired thickness, remove the lid earlier or later in the cooking time. The longer the lid is off the thicker it will be. The beef needs at least 2 hours to cook until really tender, but you can cook for longer and slower if you want too. If it gets too thick but the beef is not cooked enough yet, just add more water.
Enjoy.
The beef rendang pictured is served with sticky rice and some quick stir fry veg.
Prep. Make. Enjoy. 