Beef Rendang

I don't cook.

I mean, sure, every once in a while, I might bake a pie, fry an egg or cook noodles but I rarely ever cook up an actual dish. I'm quite terrible in the kitchen- anything that involves me using a pot on the stove will always end up with bits of food splattered everywhere!

But then I stumbled upon Almost Bourdain's Beef Rendang recipe which not only looked delicious, but seemed easy enough that I thought that there seemed to be a chance of me making this without needing the help of my mum.

And it really did end up as simple as it seemed- it basically involved mixing everything in a wok and then letting it simmer for a couple of hours. Rather than simmering it in a wok, I choose to use my thermal cooker as it would save energy. I cooked it a little longer than was supposed to but I don't think it really made a difference, because it came out delicious! It was different to the beef rendang that I'd had before- it was much drier and there was a much stronger coconut taste, but it was just as good! I'd definitely make this again :)

And of course, a nice, successful dish couldn't be served on its own- so I decided to make the whole dinner for my family =] And kinda went like this:


I lied. I didn't make the whole thing. My dad made the lemon lime and bitters- it's his 'signature' drink. Not because he's especially good at making this, it's just because no-one else in the family can ever be bothered making it. You see, my mum is usually responsible for the cooking, my sister is responsible for setting the table and my dad makes the drinks. Me? I'm responsible for sitting around.....doing nothing!

Only joking! I'm not THAT lazy, I'm usually doing homework =]

Realising that a proper meal should start with a course before the main, and that I needed to have vegetables somewhere, I decided to make a salad. Only problem was I didn't know what salad to make and couldn't make a lot of the slad recipes I saw online as I was lacking many ingredients. So the salad ended up being chopped up vegetables with salad dressing on top.

The beef rendang was absolutely delicious. Except that the beef we bought wasn't good quality (bad meat shop!) so the meat wasn't as tender and tasty as we would have liked. But, as I've said before, it was so so so good!

Dessert was vanilla slice- it was my first attempt at puff pastry and was very time consuming. But it was delicious, and even my dad, who's very picky when it comes to desserts liked this! We'd just bought a huge tray of strawberries, so I chucked them on the plate too. It doesn't look that great, but it makes the dish seem.....less empty!

The recipe for beef rendang is from here. Thanks for the recipe Ellie!

~ Beef Rendang~

Ingredients

3 packets Brahim's Rendang Paste
1.5 kg beef brisket (gravy beef)
2 cups dessicated / grated coconut
2 cups hot boiling water
6-8 cloves garlic, chopped
4 tbsp oil

Method
1.To make kerisik: Fry the grated coconut in a non-stick frying pan (without oil) on low heat. Keep stirring so all the grated coconut are browned evenly. It will take about 10 minutes to turn it into deep golden brown and you can smell the aroma. You are ready to use it for your rendang. 2.Cut the beef in 5 cm / 2" cubes.
3.Heat oil in a wok, add garlic and fry until slightly browned. Add beef and fry until all sides are browned.
4.Remove beef from wok.
5.Add rendang paste to the wok and cook until the paste is bubbling. Add the kerisik and hot boiling water.
6.Bring to a boil and add the beef and continue cooking until it's boiling.
7.Turn down the heat, cover with lid and let it simmer in low heat for 2 hours. Stir it occasionally.
8.After 2 hours of simmering, the sauce should be thickened and the should be very tender. Now turn back to medium-high heat, lid off and continue to stir-fry it until the sauce is completely thicken and dried.
9.Served with steamed rice, roti or nasi kunyit.