One of Malaysia's better-known dishes is beef rendang,
a slow-cooked dry curry deeply spiced with ginger and turmeric, kaffir lime and chilis. (You'll find chicken, vegetable, and seafood rendang as well.) In Malaysian fashion, it fuses sweet, sour, and savory elements, the curry picking up a creamy richness from two forms of coconut and an elusive tang from asam keping, slices of a sour sun-dried fruit. The flavors of Beef Rendang unfold in layers, like a stick of Willy Wonka's three-course-dinner chewing gum. First there's the zingy flavors of lemongrass and ginger, then comes the savory beef along with a torrent of chili, finally, as you continue to chew you start tasting the creamy coconut milk towards the back of your tongue. Throughout the Rendang lesson, Judy hammered home two things: 1) Rendang is not rendang if it has a sauce 2) Rendang always tastes better the next day. That's because Beef Rendang was originally created as a method of preserving meat. Before refrigeration was available, when wealthy Minangkabau farmers dispatched a cow for a special occasion it was often turned into Rendang. With its blistering spiciness (capsaicin is an antimicrobial), low moisture content and high fat content, Rendang provided a way to make the kill last for weeks in the sweltering Indonesian heat. While the ingredient list is lengthy, the process is dead simple: chop up chilis and aromatics and blend into a paste; pour that paste into a pot along with coconut milk and beef; and cook. The liquid reduces down and coconut oils emerge from the milk, so that by the end, the meat is essentially frying in that flavor-laden oil. It's not a quick dish, but the flavors that build and concentrate make the cooking time worth every moment. |
BEEF RENDANG
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
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