MEAT AND RICE BIRYANI

A biryani requires saffron. A spice I hardly use but had the pleasure of using when I made this. 

In using saffron i realized that crushing the saffron threads to a powder before soaking them in some hot water is a must if you want the intense crimson liquid to bloom to its fullest and to speckle the rice as if it had caught bits and pieces of golden sunlight here and there making the biryani rice quite attractive. 

The second time I made biryani I had not crushed the saffron to a powder and all I got was a yellow hue that made the biryani rice look as if i had cooked the rice in tumeric tinted water. Which is ok if I was making tumeric rice of course....but not if it was a biryani. 

Ghee or clarified butter adds so much flavour as well giving it the distinctive biryani taste. This too I had discovered when I had omitted using ghee the second time around.

Now I know why rules are meant to be broken. It convinces you that they shouldn't be.

Unlike the true Indian biryani where the rice and meat is layered and cooked in one pot, with the lid sealed tightly to the pot with a flour and water dough in order to retain as much moisture as possible within, I had instead cooked them seperately because I didn't trust myself.

You could of course layer the meat and rice after both have been cooked seperately, sprinkle some fried onions, chopped coriander leaves, squirts of lime juice in between each layer and let the mixed dish sit over a slow flame, covered, for an extra 5 minutes to infuse the flavours and serve thus.

If you had a three tiered tiffin carrier a simple salad of sliced cucumbers and pineapple could be included and you would have a complete biryani meal. 


The recipe ~

The biryani rice ~ from Delicious magazine

Vegetable oil

4-5 shallots, sliced thinly

 11/2 cups basmati rice

3 T ghee

1 tsp cumin seeds

5 cardamom pods

5-6 cloves

1 inch cinnamon stick

2 dried bay leaves

1/3 cup sultanas

1/3 cup cashews (optional)

A pinch of saffron thread

Fry the finely sliced shallots until golden and crispy. Drain of kitchen paper and keep aside.

Wash the rice at least three times until the water is clear and to rid of excess starch. Drain over a fine sieve. Keep aside.

Heat a medium deep pot. Melt the ghee, Saute the cumin, cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, sultanas, cashews (if using) and a teaspoon of salt for a few seconds. Add washed rice and stir until the rice is evenly coated by the ghee. Add 2 cups (500 ml) of boiling water. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile pound the saffron until a powder, scoop into a small bowl and add a teaspoon of hot water.

Uncover the rice pot after 15 minutes and dribble the saffron water over the rice. Cover again and let the rice cook over a very allow heat for about 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat and keep half covered to allow the rice to dry a little. Sprinkle the fried shallots over the rice once transferred to a platter.

The meat biryani ~adapted from Indian Cooking by Lalita Ahmed

½ kg beef fillet, sliced thickly or into 1 inch cubes

3 yellow onions

1 bay leaf

1 inch cinnamon stick

4 cardomoms

6 cloves

1 inch ginger, pounded

2-3 cloves garlic

1//2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chilli powder

½ cup plain yogurt

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cashews, roasted and ground finely

A pinch of saffron thread, pounded and soaked in 1 T of hot water to release the colour

A sprig of coriander leaves, chopped

About 1 cup of water

3 -4 T ghee

To finish :

1/4 cup of crispy fried shallots,

Some chopped coriander leaves

Heat a medium deep pot. Melt the ghee, add the sliced onions and sauté until golden brown. Then add the bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Saute until fragrant for about 30 seconds. 

Then add the meat, ginger, garlic, turmeric, the ground spices, chiili powder and yogurt. Stir to incorporate the spices all over the meat. Cover and cook until dry and the oil seperates from the mixture.

Add water, ground cashews and continue cooking for 40-50 minutes or until the meat is tender. There should be 4-5 tablespoons of thick sauce. Add the chopped coriander leaves and saffron liquid and stir to mix in. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.

Before serving sprinkle the fried shallots over the dish and some chopped coriander leaves

JAMIE OLIVER'S BOTHAM BURGER

I made and ate such a beefy Jamie Oliver burger that I was cleaning the house the whole afternoon. Upstairs and downstairs and in my master's chamber.

I dusted, I swept, I mopped and I sweat. I must remember never to have Jamie's burger for lunch ever again. It just gave me too much enthusiasm, excitement and passion ~ for all the wrong things. I need rest. Rest is what I need. Rest is best.


Being petite I struggled to eat this big fat thick dolloped-with-curry-mayonnaise-and-piled-high-with-caramelized-onions burger. Heck, I even struggled to clamp it between my two little paws. I had mayonnaise and crumbs smeared within a 2 inch perimeter of my mouth and yet I missed biting down on the beef patty. I must remember that I am not a troll. 

I made these burger buns yesterday and 'painted' them with flour. I thought they looked pretty neat. I cut out a small piece of plastic grid that my super duper DIY husband has around the house amoungst a host of other puzzling things, placed it closely over the risen bun dough and sifted flecks of flour over them. Even after baking and throwing them into a plastic bag the pattern stayed...I was Jamie Oliverishly thrilled and excited that I went around cutely reminding everyone that Bob's their uncle.

Jamie Oliver's burger recipe was very good. I cannot comprehend why anyone would ever want to eat a MacDonald's when it is so easy and healthy AND TASTY to make your own. I used very lean meat, chopped it up in my food processor to the texture that pleased me, mixed them up with the other ingredients and had fun compacting them into a lid that was slightly larger then the buns. I saw this tip just a couple of days ago but unfortunately I cannot remember where. If it's you please do let me know so that I can link. It was a brilliant idea. Pure genius.

Jamie Oliver's Botham Burger Recipe ~

1 kg lean meat
2 medium red onions, finely chopped (I omitted this)
2 eggs
1 -2 handfuls of fresh breadcrumbs
1 T coriander seeds, crushed
1 small pinch of cumin seeds, crushed
1 heaped tsp of Dijon mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper


Preheat the oven to 230 C. Mix and scrunch all the ingredients together. Divide into 4 (I made 7 and they were big, about 150 gm each). Pat into a lid or just use your hands to shape.


Place in the oven and roast for 25 minutes if very thick like Jamie's or less if not too fat and thick. Jamie Oliver's timing will leave the burger slightly pink in the centre and the outside nice and crispy.


Build a burger with what you have.


NOTE : Because I did not read the instructions for this recipe I didn't realize that these burgers were roasted in the oven. I had pan fried them..*smiling like a dope and scratching the back of my calf with my big right toe*

Curry Mayonnaise ~


A slap of bottled mayonnaise
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp mustard


Mix them all well. Slap on burger.

MEAT LASAGNA

I have finally resigned myself to the fact that lasagnas are not forms or ideas. I have finally resigned myself to the fact that I'm not a manacled prisoner in a cave. I have finally resigned myself to the fact that the lasagna I make is not a mere shadow of perfection. And I have finally resigned myself to the fact that lasagnas ooze. Seriously ooze.

I have seen it illuminated by the sun, I have seen it in the confusion of twilight, I have seen it in the shimmer of dawn. I have seen it in the blaze of my camera's flash bulb. I have seen it at all times imaginable. And they ooze. Period.



The chase for perfection, even in lasagna world, can be foolish. We ignore the fact that cheese melts and oozes. We ignore the fact that meat sauce is sauce. And oozes. We ignore the fact that if you put these two things together in one dish, one on the top of the other and apply 375 degrees of heat, continuously, for 45 minutes, to the whole, some major oozing will surely occur. We ignore logic, reason and reality. We begin to chase this 'vision of truth'. We become philosophically fatuous. We become me.

And that was what I have been. Foolish. I refused to blog about an oozing lasagna. I refused to share the recipe for a great but oozing lasagna. I refused to take a picture of a great but oozing lasagna. But how could I?

Because, I had asked myself, what are those out there then?. What are those that are perfectly layered and not regurgitating while their picture is being taken? What are those that are cut in perfect squares or rectangles neatly and with un-spluttered edges? What are those?

Those I have found are not real. They are so so not real. They are an illusion, are fancy tricks of the experts, of fanatical food stylists, of flabbergasting photoshop artwork .....whatever..... they're not real.

But mine is. And it's so GOOD. Ok let's be honest here...it's Mary Berry's. And is soo GOOD. It's foolproof, it's utterly scrummy, slurpy and sumptuous and it oozes that wonderful, heavenly ooze.



Yes I've finally come down and hit earth with a big bang. But I've bounced back and Ooze is now my friend. But I will still not be taking a picture of Ooze. The whole is what I'll show here. The bronzed and beautiful Whole.

And here's the recipe ................but before we begin lets talk lasagna sheets...the 'instant' kind, the only kind that is available here.

"Oven ready lasagna sheets" "No pre-cooking required". Unless you have your sauce quite saucy, so that the lasagna sheets could soak up all the moisture as it cooks, you will end up with rather tough, half cooked lasagna sheets.


So comes the next biggest, mind boggling question in the universe. How saucy should the sauce be? A tad? Very? Not too? Well I don't have much time for such complex philosophical questions so what I do is to make make my sauce nice and thick in consistency.

And while the sauce is cooking I soak the lasagna sheets that I will be using in one layer spread out between at least 2 large baking trays, for at least 30 minutes, or more, until they soften and then use them to build up the lasagna. It will cook through in the oven and my lasagna comes out perfect. Not Ideal as in Plato's Utopia, but perfect.


And now...here's the recipe.................as per Mary Berry's.............

4 oz mature cheddar cheese, grated ( I used about 1 1/2 oz more) :D
1 oz parmesan cheese ( Iused a little bit more) :D
6 oz pre-cooked lasagna sheets ( I used about 8 sheets)
chopped parsley to garnish

MEAT SAUCE

2 tbsp olive oil
1 kg lean minced beef
45 gm plain flour
300 ml beef stock
1 x 400 gm can chopped tomatoes
6 celery stalks, sliced
2 onions, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp sugar
salt and black pepper

WHITE SAUCE

I actually make one and a half of this recipe because I think it adds that little bit more of yummy richness (If you're not on a diet).

60 gm butter
45 gm flour
600 ml milk
1 tsp Dijon mustard
pinch of grated nutmeg

MAKE THE MEAT SAUCE.............

Heat the oil in a deep pot, add the beef, and cook stirring until browned. Add teh flour and cook, stirring for one minute.

Add the stock, tomatoes, celery, onions, garlic, tomato puree, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.

MAKE THE WHITE SAUCE.................

Melt the butter in a asaucepan add the flour and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat and gradually blend in the milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly untilt eh mixture thickens. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the mustard, salt and pepper to taste.


BUILD......at this point I deviate from Mary Berry's recipe...........

Divide the meat sauce and white sauce each equally between 3 seperate bowls to ensure each layer will be even.

Grease a shallow reactangular oven proof dish measuring about 10 by 7 inches, using butte or olive oil.

Line the bottom completely with about three of the soaked, and drained lasagna sheets (depending on the size of the sheets).

Top with 1/3 of the meat sauce, 1/3 of the white sauce and 1/3 of the Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses each.

Cover again with enough lasagna sheets making sure to reach the edges of the dish...............TIP : Using the pads of your fingers (and the palm of your hand, if necessary) press down gently to compact the layer so that the layers come out somewhat 'perfect'.

Then top with the next 1/3 of the meat sauce, white sauce and the cheeses. Cover again withe lasagna sheets, press down again and top again with the remaining sauces and cheeses, making the final layer.

Bake for 45 minutes in a 190 C oven.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley as a garnish just before you serve. YUMMMMMMMM

BEEF & POTATO PATTIES - PERGEDIL DAGING

An Indonesian carry over. This is a beef and potato patty that can be eaten as an additional dish with rice or as a must have topping to a lovely spicy soup noodle dish called Soto. What is nice about this dish is that the potatoes are deliberately left lumpy instead of smooth as opposed to the mashed potatoes of croquettes. It can be made with any kind of minced meat or even fish such as mackeral or our local tenggiri. Very rustic in its use of cumin, chopped coriander, chopped spring onions, chopped chillies with a few squirts of lime or lemon juice, salt and pepper. Very delicious.

4 medium potatoes, boiled, cooled, peeled
180 gm mince meat
1 stalk spring onion, chopped
1 sprig coriander, chopped
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp or more ground black pepper
1/2 tsp or more salt or according to taste
juice of a lime or half a lemon

1/2 egg, beaten
1 egg extra, beaten

1/2 cup of cooking oil

Heat a small pan and dry fry the mince meat until it turns brown, and the moisture has evaporated and is cooked. Remove from heat and put into a bowl and let it cool.

Add the boiled and cooled potatoes to the mince. (Alternatively, the potatoes may be cut up into wedges and fried and cooled).

Break up the potatoes with a fork roughly. Do not mash.

Add the chopped herbs, ground coriander, pepper and the salt. Squirt in some lime or lemon juice. Taste for salt. If necessary add some more salt. Add 1/2 a beaten egg and using your hands bring the mixture together and form them into patties. You should get about 10 patties.

Heat up the cooking oil in a small pan. Dip each patty in the beaten egg and shallow fry till golden brown on one side then turn over to cook the other side. Serve.



TIP : Potatoes and mince must be cooled down before mixing otherwise the moisture from the heat will make the mixture soggy, difficult to handle and will break easily when frying.

TIP : Mince meat must be cooked to rid it of moisture before mixing into potatoes. If using fish the fish too should be shallow fried or poached, drained well and then flaked in largish pieces before mixing with potatoes.

Black Pepper Beef

I LOVE black pepper anything. And I am glad that I am finally able to cook a good black pepper dish without using oyster sauce. Not that I have anything against it in taste. I love the flavour and the richness and the sweetness that it brings to a dish but unfortunately I have heard that it contains anything but oysters.

So to compensate I used a combination of honey and a dark, thick soy sauce. It worked and everyone was slappy happy although not the violent kind.

But it was difficult to get a good picture though. Black and dark dishes like this and rendang just don't photograph well. At least that was what I experienced. I must have taken about fifty frames and most of them were bad. But thank god for digitals. Thank god for delete too. And thank god for one decent one. Or two.

Black Pepper Beef

500 gm beef fillet, sliced thinly

marinate for beef :

2 teaspn light soy sauce
1 teaspn sugar
1 teaspn cornflour
1/2 teaspn bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspn salt
1 egg ( white only if preferred)

3 cloves garlic crushed to a paste
About 4 tablespn dark soy sauce
1-2 tablespn honey
1-2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cornflour + 1 tablespoon water, mixed
some water

Marinate the beef for at least 30 minutes. Coat the beef with the marinate well by using your fingers so that every slice is well coated.

Heat 3 or 4 tablespoon spf oil in a small wok. Fry the beef pieces in three batches until browned but half cooked through. Drain and keep aside.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a larger pan. Saute the garlic paste for a few seconds. Add the soy sauce, honey, and some water, perhaps about 1/2 a cup of water. Stir. Add ground black pepper and then beef slices all at once. Put heat on high and mix well until beef slices are coated with the sauce. Add salt to taste if necessary (I did not add salt) and if you would like more sauce just add a little more water. When the beef is about done maybe three ot five minutes add the cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce. Sprinkle a little black pepper on top if you like.

Serve with white rice or noodles.



TIP : Bicarbonate of soda tenderizes the meat. Check this out for some opinions on tenderizing meat and this for some expert opinion on the effects of marinated meat on health.

TIP : The egg that was used as part of the marinade seemed to give the beef a tender quality too. As well as adding moistness to it.

Three Sauced Meat Balls

I usually make this with beef but today I used minced mutton and It was GOOD! VERY GOOD. I'm a little embarrassed by this recipe because it simply uses bottled sauces but WHO CARES. It was good. So although I'm not being paid for the advert those are the sauces that I used plus one more - Maggi Tomato Sauce.

Mutton and lamb gives a much smoother and finer texture in the meatballs than beef. And for extra moistness I used milk in the meat ball mixture plus a few spices which married very well with the sauces.

This recipe should serve six hungry people or four hungry ghosts.

600 gm minced mutton/beef/lamb
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (5 slices of bread)
1 Tbspn coriander powder/serbuk ketumbar
1 Tbspn fennel powder/serbuk jintan manis
1 Tbspn cumin powder/serbuk jintan putih
1 1/2 tsp salt
5 - 6 Tbspn fresh milk
Dash of cayenne pepper or a dash of black pepper
Dried parsley flakes

1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic squashed

2 Tbsp Lingham chilly sauce
4 Tbspn Maggi Tomato sauce
4 Tbspn Heinz BBQ sauce ('regular' or 'chicken and ribs')
1 1/2 cups of water

1 teaspn cornflour
1 Tbspn water

10 pieces of curry leaves (optional) but how can you resist the aroma of it.

Vegetable cooking oil

Make meatballs :

Mix minced mutton, breadcrumbs, powdered spices, black pepper or cayenne pepper, milk, salt and dried parsley flakes. Mix well with hands. Shape into balls the size of a small lime or, I suppose, that of a walnut (although I've never actually seen one whole).

Shallow fry the meatballs in a some oil until they turn a nice crusty brown on the outside but it doesn't matter if it is half cooked inside. Drain and keep aside.

Remove some of the oil and leave 2 tablespoons in the pan. Saute the diced onions and garlic until soft and slightly brown at the edges. Pour in the three sauces. Add the water. Stir.

Put in the meatballs.Stir to coat. Season to taste although you don't really need to at all. Add the cornflour/water mixture and stir to mix. Let it bubble and simmer until the meatballs are completely cooked and the sauce has thickened.

Serve hot and yummy with plain rice like I just did.

Beef Currry Pie with a Rough Puff Topping

I was thinking of chicken pies at first but after some pondering chicken pie began to sound a little boring so I ended up making some beef curry pies instead and baked them in those adorable bowls that I had just bought (scroll down some and you'll see pics of those adorable bowls at their best - a September Post, titled -It's a Sale! It's a Sale!).

This is my first try at a beef curry pie and I have to say that the filling tasted rather good and the finished pies looked quite, quite beautiful.

Because this curry would be eaten almost on its own I had to make sure that it wasn't too spicy.

Hence the use of only a tablespoon of curry powder to 1 kilo of meat, with tomato paste added for colour and extra cumin and fennel to make sure the curry flavour was still there without it being too spicy.

I made the rough puff pastry that you see in the picture from scratch but you could use ready made puff pastry if you like. I actually made the pastry a day earlier and kept it in the fridge.

I'll post the recipe for the pastry in a future post. I just did not have the time to take any pictures while I made it.

This recipe makes 4 very filling pies and is a meal in itself. Yum!


1 kg beef, cubed
1 tbsp curry powder
1 1/2 tbsp plain flour

1 medium potato, cubed
10-12 baby carrots, halved
1-2 stalks celery, chopped into chunks
200 gm button mushrooms, sliced

2 large onions, diced
2 cloves garlic crushed

1 tsp cumin powder/ jintan putih
1 tsp fennel powder/ jintan manis
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp sweet chilly sauce ( I used Lingham)
1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp sugar

2 1/2 cups water

2 tbsp plain flour + 1 tbsp butter mixed to a paste

2 tbsp oil plus 2 tbps extra for sauteing the onions and garlic.
1 tbsp butter

Salt for seasoning

Frozen puff pastry, thawed or a rough puff pastry made from scratch.

Coat beef cubes well with 1 1/2 tbsp flour, 1 tbsp curry powder and season with salt. Heat 2 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter in a wide shallow pan and brown beef cubes in three batches.

You may need to add a little extra oil or butter for the third batch if if dries up. Best to use a non-stick pan for this. Keep aside.

If the pan has residues of crust from the browning of the beef, add 1 cup of the water to the pan and stir to loosen the crust then add this later to the beef when the remaining water is added. There is a lot of flavour in here and it will be a waste to lose it.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a medium sized pot and saute diced onions and garlic until soft and slightly golden around the edges. Add the browned beef cubes. Mix.

Add the cumin, fennel, tomato paste, chilly sauce. Mix to coat. Add the water that was poured into the pan used to brown the meat and the remaining 1 1/2 cups of water, the light soy sauce and sugar. Stir to mix.

Bring to a boil then turn down heat to simmer and let it cook until the beef is tender depending on the cut of meat you use it will probably take about 45 minutes to 1 hour or even more.

Add in all the sliced and chopped vegetables.




Cook until vegetables are very tender. Then add in the butter and flour paste to thicken the sauce. You may thicken further if desired by adding a teaspoon of cornflour mixed with water.

Season with more salt to taste.



When done keep aside and let it cool a little. Scoop the beef mixture into small to medium sized bowls that serves a person each.




(If you are using bought puff pastry make sure it has thawed completely.)

Roll out pastry onto a floured board to about slightly more than a quarter inch thick. I like my pastry to rise so high that you'll have to sit on it to bring it down. So the thicker it is the higher it will rise.

Cut the pastry into squares bigger than the mouth of the bowl so that the edges of the pastry when placed on the top will fall over the sides of the bowl. But no too much bigger though.

Brush the edges of the bowl with a brush dipped in a beaten egg and place the pastry on top. Cut a cross in the middle of the pastry top and brush the top with the beaten egg.

Place the pies on a baking tray to catch the drips as they bake.

Bake in a hot oven. I set the oven at 200 C and I baked it for 20-25 minutes until the pastries were golden brown and had risen to a thousand layers high. Enjoy.

Rendang - Its History and the Original Rendang Recipe

The Minagkabau Rendang

Aahhh.............the Mother of all Rendangs! Invented and spread by the Minangkabaus as they ventured beyond their comfort zones into the Malay peninsula. Centuries ago. Resulting in the love and savouring of the rendang today all over Malaysia, by all Malaysians, of all races, and from all walks of life. So perhaps a short delve into the story of the Minangkabaus as a people is not uncalled for here.

The Minangkabaus are a people indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra in Indonesia. They practice a matrilineal culture (apparently the world's largest matrilineal society) where property and land passes from mothers to daughters while their men dabble in religion and politics. Hmmmm.....that's rendang for thought.

The name Minangkabau is thought to be a conjunction of two words; minang (victorious) and kabau (buffalo). Legend has it that the name derived as a result of a territorial dispute between a neighbouring prince and the Minagkabaus.

To avoid bloodshed (of the human kind of course) the two adversaries each put up a buffalo to a fight. And to cut a long legend short the Minagkabau's buffalo emerged victorious and it was at that point that the 'Minagkabaus' were born; as in 'Victorious Buffalo'.

What they called themselves before that though is anyone's guess. But they were a proud people and were renowned as travellers and merchants. They travelled and set up communities in the Malay peninsula and in other parts of Indonesia and brought with them their particular foods that are very much enjoyed here today.




The picture above, taken from Wikipedia, shows a beautiful Minangkabau 'Big House' or 'Rumah Gadang' designed in such a way that its roof was inspired by and took on the shape of the upward curve of a buffalo's horns. Further proof that the legend perhaps is a little more than mere legend.

Rendang is one of the characteristic foods of Minagkabau culture, served during ceremonial occasions and to honour guests.

Although westerners might categorize rendang as a curry, rendang is in actual fact nothing like a curry, at least not in the way that it is cooked.

Rendang is cooked very slowly in plenty (and I mean really plenty) of coconut milk with a combination of spices and herbs for several hours until all the liquid has evaporated thus allowing the meat to soak in and absorb the flavours of all the condiments.

The cooking process begins as boiling but it changes eventually to frying as the liquid evaporates and the meat begins to cook in the oil of the coconut milk itself. There is no sauteeing of the spices in vegetable oil first, unlike in a curry, but the meat is simply boiled in the coconut milk with the spices and herbs thrown in.

What gives it its dark, deep and rich colour, which is an important characteristic of a good rendang, is the result of the large amount of coconut milk used in proportion to the meat. The oil from the coconut milk after the liquid has evaporated 'fries' the meat to a dark, reddish brown.

The first squeeze of thick coconut milk from two mature grated coconuts to one kati (catty)(approximately half a kilogram) of meat is the normal ratio in a Minang rendang recipe. Kerisik (freshly grated or dessicated coconut dry fried to a golden brown and pounded to a paste) is quite unnecessary as the large amount of coconut milk and the oil obtained from it is more than sufficient to give the rendang its dark and rich coconutty flavour.

History has it that the rendang was thus cooked because it was the best way to preserve cooked food during times when refrigeration would have been unfathomable.

As a result, there emerged two kinds of rendang, the wet and the dry. The wet lasting about a month if kept well and the dry lasting two to three months. The dry rendang was usually served on ceremonial occasions and was a convenient dish to serve to visitors who dropped in unexpectedly over time.

Rendang was cooked using mostly beef or sometimes mutton, buffalo meat and also chicken or duck. But chicken or duck rendang however has tamarind juice as an additional ingredient and does not require as long a cooking time as beef.

The downside of cooking a real Minang rendang though is that it takes ages, hours, and the upside is that it is incomparable when it comes to flavour and taste!

As far as I am concerned, it's worth its wait in gold (pun intended).




The Recipe......

The large amount of onions used gives this dish its thick rich sauce and adds a savoury sweetness as it cooks and caramelizes with the other condiments towards the end of the long cooking. Kerisik (grated or dessicated coconut dry fried to a golden brown and pounded to a paste) is not necessary as this recipe includes plenty of thick coconut milk.


I kg. beef or mutton, cubed in sizeable chunks

400 gm large red onions or shallots
4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 inch galangal/lengkuas
1 1/2 inch ginger/halia
1/2 inch fresh tumeric/kunyit
2 stalks lemon grass/serai
8-10 pieces of *dried or fresh red chillies, or a combination, (more if preferred)
* dried chillies (soak in hot water to soften for 10 minutes before being ground)

**1200 ml thick coconut milk, preferably freshly squeezed, obtained from 4 grated coconuts

1 tumeric leaf
5-6 pieces kaffir lime leaves
2 tsp salt

**I have converted the previous measurement of 900-1000 grams of coconut milk to milliliters and have specified the number of coconuts to be used for easier and more specific measuring.

Slice onions, garlic, galangal, ginger, tumeric and lemon grass and then grind them in a food processor ( my preference) or a blender, if you prefer, until it becomes a paste.

Put all ingredients - cubed meat, ground paste, tumeric leaf, kaffir lime leaves, santan and salt into a large pot or wok and bring to a boil. As soon as it comes to a boil lower heat and let it simmer for the rest of the cooking time until the mixture becomes a dark, dark, rich brown. This will be achieved as the colour changes shades through several stages in the cooking.

Stir every once in a while to ensure that the bottom does not get burnt or that the meat does not stick to the bottom of the pot or wok. The rendang is ready when the mixture becomes dark, rich and brown or if it is cooked to a drier stage the colour would be an even darker chocolate brown.

I actually cooked this yesterday for about four and a half hours. Don't let this discourage you though for it's worth the wait.

TIP* Through trial and error I have found that rendang is best cooked in a heavy based wok or in a heavy based, wide mouthed pot as opposed to a high narrow pot. The larger surface area allows evaporation to take place more rapidly and the heat is not entirely concentrated on breaking down the meat inspite of the long cooking process. So you will still get a nice thick sauced rendang while still maintaining chunks of meat satisfactorily intact.

TIP* Select rump, knuckle or topside for rendang, not sirloin. Sirloin is too tender to withstand the long cooking and you will probably end up with ground mush instead.

TIP* If packaged coconut milk is used instead of fresh, you may not end up with the glaze of oil towards the end of the cooking and the rendang may not be satisfactorily dark or moist. This would probably be caused by the fact that packaged coconut milk has lost most of its natural oils after being processed.

The only way to overcome this problem is by sauteeing the ground ingredients in oil first, as you would a curry, then add the rest of the ingredients after which you should continue to cook it as you would a rendang.

But the 'darkness' of the rendang is also a result of the large amount of fresh coconut milk used as it provides more oil for the meat to 'fry' in towards the end and therefore becoming darker. This means that even if you saute the ground ingredients in oil first the final product will still not be as dark brown as a dish that uses fresh coconut milk in the amount stated in the recipe above.

I am afarid all this obsession with darkness in rendang has got to do with the fact that it is one of the means by which I judge a good rendang. Through experience, pale, light brown coloured rendangs never taste good let alone look good. Having learnt this recipe from a 'thouroughbred' elderly Minagkabau lady years ago I have set her rendang as the 'GOLD STANDARD' in rendang world.