The KING OF ALL CURRIES is here!!! Beef Rendang has incredible depth of flavour, with complexity and many layers of spices. It’s straight forward to make, though it does take time and perhaps a trip to the Asian grocery store (though Sydney-siders will find everything at Woolies). Watch the video and drool!
Beef Rendang
This Beef Rendang recipe is from a payroll lady at a company I used to work for. It’s her Malaysian mother’s recipe. I still remember, so many years later, how we used to bond over food at the water cooler!
I actually first published this recipe a couple of years ago but I’ve made some minor improvements that will make your life easier without changing the flavour at all. Plus I made a recipe video!
Beef Rendang is the king of all curries!
What is Beef Rendang?
Beef Rendang is a Malaysian curry and is considered by many to be the king of all curries! To say it’s extravagantly delicious is an understatement. There are very few curries in this world with such amazingly complex flavours.
Originally from Indonesia though now more well known as a Malaysia curry, the sauce is made with aromatic spices like cinnamon, cardamom and star anise as well as fresh aromatics including lemongrass, garlic, ginger and galangal.
Unlike many curries, Beef Rendang is a dry curry which means there is not loads of sauce. However, the meat is so ridiculously tender and has a thick coating of sauce on each piece, so when the meat literally falls apart at a touch, it mixes through rice, flavouring it like saucy curries.
If you love South East Asian curries, Beef Rendang is without a doubt one of the best!
Here in Sydney, you can get all the ingredients for Beef Rendang at Woolworths and Coles. Seriously!
How to make Beef Rendang
Though there’s a fair few ingredients in this, some of which may not be familiar to you and are certainly not everyday ingredients even in my world, it’s actually quite a straightforward recipe:
Blitz curry paste ingredient in food processor;
Brown the beef;
Cook off the curry paste – releases amazing flavour!
Add everything else in and slow cook until the beef is ultra tender.
An interesting cooking method with Beef Rendang is the way it gets the deep brown colour. All throughout the video, right up until the very end, you will notice that the sauce is a pale brown colour. It’s not until the very end when the sauce reduces right down and the oil separates that it turns brown, essentially the browning of the beef in the oil of the sauce.
This Beef Rendang can be made in a slow cooker, but I find it easiest to make it all on the stove. Especially given it starts on the stove with the browning of the beef and spice paste, then finishes on the stove with the reducing of the sauce and browning of the beef (this part cannot be done in a slow cooker).
This is one of those recipes that just gets better with time. So whenever possible, I try to make this a day or two in advance. It also freezes extremely well.
I serve this with my Restaurant Style Coconut Rice because it’s my copycat of the coconut rice you get at the posh modern Asian restaurants! – Nagi xx
PS You see those bits stuck on the beef that could be shredded coconut?? It’s not. It’s bits of shredded BEEF. Because it’s so tender by the end, when you’re stirring it, some bits do flake off. YUM!
MORE GREAT CURRIES OF THE WORLD!
- Biryani (it’s amazing!)
- Chicken Tikka Masala
- Dal (Indian lentil curry)
- Thai Red Curry
- Massaman Curry
- Browse the Curry Collection
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Beef Rendang recipe video!
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Beef Rendang
Ingredients
Spice Paste
- 12 dried chilies, rehydrated in boiling water, or 12 large fresh (Note 1a)
- 1 small onion, finely chopped (Note 1b)
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 lemongrass stalks, white part only, sliced (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh galangal, finely chopped (Note 3)
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 2 tbsp oil (vegetable, canola or peanut oil)
Curry
- 2 lb/ 1 kg chuck steak, or other slow cooking beef, cut into 4cm / 1.6″ cubes (Note 4)
- 1 tbsp oil (vegetable, peanut, canola)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/4 tsp clove powder
- 3 star anise
- 1/2 tsp cardamon powder
- 1 lemongrass stick, bottom half of the stick only and smashed (Note 5)
- 400ml / 14 oz coconut milk (1 standard can)
- 2 tsp tamarind puree / paste, or tamarind pulp soaked in 1 tbsp of hot water, seeds removed (Note 6)
- 4 large kaffir lime leaves (or 6 small) , very finely sliced (Note 7)
- 1/3 cup desiccated coconut (finely shredded coconut)
- 1 tbsp brown sugar or grated palm sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Place Spice Paste ingredients in a small food processor and whizz until fine. NOTE: If using dried chilli and you know your food processor is not that powerful, chop the chilli first.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Add half the beef and brown, then remove onto plate. Repeat with remaining beef.
- Lower heat to medium low. Add Spice Paste and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until the wetness has reduced and the spice paste darkens (don’t breathe in too much, the chilli will make you cough!).
- Add remaining Curry ingredients and beef. Stir to combine.
- Bring to simmer, then immediately turn down the heat to low or medium low so the sauce is bubbling very gently.
- Put the lid on the pot and leave it to simmer for 1 hr 15 minutes.
- Remove lid and check the beef to see how tender it is. You don’t want it to be “fall apart at a touch” at this stage, but it should be quite tender. If it is fall apart already, remove the beef from the pot before proceeding.
- Turn up heat to medium and reduce sauce for 30 – 40 minutes, stirring every now and then at first, then frequently towards the end until the beef browns and the sauce reduces to a paste that coats the beef. (Note 9)
- The beef should now be very tender, fall apart at a touch. If not, add a splash of water and keep cooking. Remove from heat and serve with plain or Restaurant Style Coconut Rice.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Dozer’s got a boo boo. i.e. Shredded his paw by tearing manically across a bed of oyster shells in pursuit of a pelican.
Let’s not feel too sorry for him though. He’s been pretty pampered.
After several failed attempts at Beef Rendanag, I nailed it using this recipe. Easy to follow with good results.
Wahoo! Great stuff Debra!
I loved this recipe the flavour was so tasty and delicious definately a keeper.
Hi Nagi,
I remember the original recipe gave the number of cloves etc. Would you be able to update your recipe to reflect the old ingredients as well please? Thanks 🙂
I bought bulk packs of whole spices to make this curry. It is soooo delicious. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Nagi – I loved the flavour – the only reason I didn’t give it a 5 star was because my beef was a bit tough even adding an extra 45 minutes cooking time. I much prefer pork to beef – any reason I can’t substitute pork? Should I make any other changes? Have made quite a few of your recipes lately with much success!
Hi Kate, Sorry to hear your beef was tough! Can I ask what cut you were using? You could always sub with pork if you prefer – N x
Thanks Nagi. I bought “stew meat” at the butcher so not sure exactly what cut. It was pretty lean though so perhaps that was the problem. I think I will give pork a try next time. Such good flavour – worth another try!
Hi Kate, yes definitely lean meat tends to be drier than meat marbles with fat and doesn’t break down as nicely. I would love to know if you try it with pork and how it turns out ❤️
Nagi this recipe hits it out the park
Wahoo! I’m so happy you love it Jason!
Nagi is my “go-to” recipe queen. A long time ago I made her pork carnitas and now if I need a recipe… I just come here. This is probably my favourite! Thank you Nagi.
Woot! That’s awesome James, thanks so much ❤️
Hi Nagi,absolutley love this recipie of yours.Made it a few times now made it with chicken today and it tasted so much sweeter,not in a bad way I =always double the recipie to feed us all.Thanks.
Sounds great! I’m so happy you loved it!
So the receipe is for 6 servings. For 12 servings do i need a slow cooker for size 3,5 liter or 6,4 liter?
Hi Max, if you adjust the serving size on the recipe to 12, it should give you the amount of each ingredient you’ll require. Just make sure your slow cooker has this capacity. – N x
Hi Nagi!
My son wanted me to write a comment on your your Beef Rendang recipe. We had it for dinner tonight. This recipe is so yummy! My 7 year old son devoured it!
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Woah thats terrific Maria!
Hi, sorry if I’m wrong but as I know rendang is Indonesian dishes,
Yes, It is.
Hi Nagi, If I want to make this non spicy at all, can I just omit the dried chillies completely? Will that change the taste of the rendang? Try to make this as kid friendly as possible.
Hi Ping, you could omit the chillies if you prefer!
Possible to use mutton ?
What kind of dried chiles are recommend? I have dried Japanese chiles but not sure if that’s what you’re using.
Hi Tiana, I talk about this in the recipe notes. I usually use the Asian dried chillies but sometimes it can be hard to judge the spiciness! N x
Made it tonight using your recipe and I have to say it’s very authentic! I love that it’s made from scratch instead of with spice paste from Woolies as they never taste quite “right”. The only thing I didn’t add was the desiccated coconut as I’ve never actually seen any Malaysian use them.
Awesome!!! Glad you enjoyed this Elena! N x ❤️
Hi Nagi. As kaffir lime leaves have two leaf segments per stem, do you use four full leaves (which would be eight individual leaf segments), or two full leaves (which would be four individual leaf segments). I thought I’d check, so I don’t overpower the rendang, or have one lacking in flavour. Thanks!
Hi Agnes – I didn’t know that! This recipe calls for 4 individual leaves 🙂 N x
It was delicious! I’ll probably put a little less sugar in next time, but Mum really enjoyed it. Definitely a keeper.
Wow, amazing recipe, tastes awesome and so easy! Thank you
Nagi, this recipe made me a dedicated fan of your website and recipe collection!
According to my wife, this Rendang is “better than restaurant quality”. (And she does like restaurant beef Rendang!)
Thank you so much !
Chris
This recipe sounds so great- I lived in Indonesia for 11 years and this was one of my favorites-
I am hoping to make this for a big group of people- do you think it would work ok to bake it in a low
Oven in a roasting pan- covered??
Thanks in advance for any advice-
Loved your recipe. In my area the lemongrass available is not that fresh and the white part at the bottom is hard and inedible even after cooking. Will this dish work if I skip the lemongrass entirely? Thanks
This is a restaurant quality dish. The best Rendang I have ever eaten. Thanks so much for sharing. 😊
That’s great to hear Brooke! Thanks so much for letting me know! N x