PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, THIS RENDANG RECIPE PRODUCES ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING CURRIES YOU WILL EVER EAT!

SERVES 5- COOKING TIME : 3 HOURS

INGREDIENTS (paste):

• up to 15 dried red chillies (I use 15 plus 2 fresh red chillies because i like the heat but if you like a little heat, just add 10, or hardly any spice, just 5!)
• 3 lemongrass stalks, remove outer layers and roughly slice
• 3cm of galangal, roughly peel and slice
• 5cm of ginger, roughly peel and slice
• 6 garlic cloves
• 4 banana shallots (or whatever you can find) or 2 medium white onions

INGREDIENTS (curry):

• 1kg beef chunks (I used beef leg as this was what I could find at my local butchers. But any beef cut that can be slow cooked till tender will work perfectly!)
• 400ml can of coconut milk
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 1 lemongrass stalk, roughly bashed
• 6 kaffir lime leaves
• 1/2tsp ground tumeric
• 2tsp coriander
• 1/2tsp ground cloves
• 1/2tsp cardamon powder
• 3 star anise
• 2tsp tamarind paste
• 1tbsp brown sugar
• splash of fish sauce
• 3tbsp kerisik (toasted and ground desiccated coconut)
• vegetable oil
• salt to taste
• fresh coriander to serve

METHOD:

1. Before you begin cooking, soak the dried chillies in hot water for 20 minutes. This would also be a ideal time to prepare the kerisik. Dry toast desiccated coconut in a frying pan until its turned from white to dark brown (but be careful not to burn! Keep stirring because it browns fairly quickly). Then grind in a pestle and mortar until a paste.
2. Next prepare the paste. Blend all the items together with a tablespoon of oil to form a wet, pinkish paste. In a heavy-bottomed, lidded pan, heat a little oil over a medium heat and fry the paste for 3-5 minutes, until it begins to brown slightly.
3. Turn the heat to low, and chuck in the beef chunks. Mix the two together so that each beef piece is covered with paste as it begins to brown.
4. Throw in all the remaining curry ingredients, apart from the kerisik, fish sauce and brown sugar. Give everything a thorough mix. Now, being careful not to bring the curry to a boil, increase the heat to a simmer, and then reduce so that it gently bubbles away. Cover and leave for 1 hour 30 mins. During this time, its only necessary the check and stir the curry a few times.
5. After this time, the beef should be cooked, but not fall-apart tender just yet. Remove the lid, turn the heat to a steady medium and let the coconut milk reduce for 40 minutes to 1 hour (entirely dependent on the rate at which liquid reduces at). At this point, its best to stir more frequently so that the sauce and beef doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Towards the end, splash in some fish sauce, add the kerisik, sugar and salt to taste.
6. Eventually, the beef should be so tender you can cut it with a spoon. And the sauce so reduced that only each beef chunk is coated with curry but not swimming in it!
7. And ta-da! Serve over steaming, fluffy rice and with a sprinkling of coriander. DELICIOUS!