Serving
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Beef Dry Curry
Indonesia - Rendang Daging
Serves
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 2 main  
**
3-1/2 hrs  
Yes		 Long cooking, but durable, this dish can be made days ahead and improves with reheating, or it can be served cool as an appetizer. In Indonesia it is often made in at least twice the quantity given here and served over several days. You can also stop cooking while there is still quite a bit of sauce for a different effect.   Yield: 1-1/2 pounds of raw beef = 1 pound finished.





1-1/2
------
4
1/2
2
2
2
1/2
1/2
1/4
1
------
14
2
2
1/2 		#
---
oz
in
cl


t
t
t
T
---
oz


t 		Beef lean (1)
-- Paste
Onion
Ginger Root
Garlic
Candlenuts (2)
Chili, dry (3)
Turmeric
Coriander Seed
Cumin Seed
Oil
--------
Coconut Milk
Kaffir Leaf (4)
Salam Leaf (5)
Salt
    Prep   -   (30 min)
  1. Cut BEEF into about 1 inch cubes.
  2. Chop ONION small.
  3. Slice GINGER very thin and chop fine. Crush GARLIC and chop small. Crush Candlenuts in a mortar. Mix all.
  4. Grind together Chilis, Turmeric, Coriander and Cumin.
  5. Roll up Kaffir Leaves tightly and then slice into threads. Chop up the threads so they are very short.
    6. Run   -   (3+ hrs)
  6. In a skillet heat Oil and fry Onions, stirring until very light golden, then stir in Ginger mix and fry stirring until garlic starts to brown.
  7. Stir in Spice Mix. Fry stirring another minute, then cool and reduce to a paste (see Note-6).
  8. In a heavy bottomed stew pot, stir in the Paste, Coconut Milk, Lime Leaf and Salam Leaf. Bring slowly to a boil stirring constantly.
  9. Stir in Beef. Bring back to a boil stirring constantly. Now turn the heat very low and simmer slowly, uncovered, stirring often, until the meat is tender. This is going to be about 2-1/2 hours for chuck, up to 3-1/2 for round. If it looks like it'll dry out before the beef is tender, add a little water and simmer it covered for awhile. When it is done the meat will be a dark brown and coated with the dried sauce. There will be no liquid at all.
  10. Serve hot, or let cool, as you wish. This dish can be refrigerated for days and reheated, or just allowed to come back to room temperature.
NOTES:
  1. Beef:   Cheap and tough works fine here, but round takes longer than chuck.
  2. Candlenuts:   If not available, use 4 raw Macadamias or raw Cashews, or lacking those, 6 raw blanched almonds.
    3. For details see our Candlenut page.
  3. Chili:   Adjust to your preference. I use two dried red Thai chilis. Use Arbols for medium heat and for even less heat use the common Japones. For details see our Chili Page.
  4. Kaffir Lime Leaf:   These come two to a stem so "two leaves" means one stem. For details see our Kaffir Lime page.
  5. Salam Leaf:   (Daun Salam) These can be had dried and are unique to Indonesian and Malaysian cooking. The nearest substitute is Curry Leaf, but it's not real close. For details see our Daun Salam page.
  6. Paste:   Traditionally this is done in a big stone Mortar. You could also use a mini-prep food processor by adding a little of the coconut milk, since it goes in next anyway.
  7. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch
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