Beef Rendang Recipe - Great British Chefs

This beef rendang recipe is packed with flavour from umami beef, soy and fish sauce, fragrant ginger and lemongrass and a blend of heady spices tempered by coconut. This beautiful curry recipe is taken from PRIME: The Beef Cookbook by Richard H. Turner, published by Mitchell Beazley. Photography by Paul Winch-Furness.

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A caramelised curry dish from West Sumatra in Indonesia, reckoned to be one of the most delicious beef dishes on the planet by a CNN poll. Originally used as a method of preserving excess quantities of meat, this dish has spread throughout Asia due to the migrating culture of its originators, the Minangkabau.

Beef rendang
1kg chuck steak
50g of beef dripping, or lard or vegetable oil
2 cinnamon sticks
2 cloves
2 star anise
50g of desiccated coconut, toasted
500ml of coconut water, (the kind sold fresh for drinking)
1 tbsp of tamarind paste
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tbsp of kecap manis, or light soy sauce
2 kaffir lime leaves
250ml of beef stock
1 lime, juiced
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Rendang spice paste
100g of shallots, peeled
1 garlic bulb, cloves peeled
50g of galangal, peeled
50g of fresh ginger, peeled
3 red chillies
3 lemongrass stalks
50ml of water
Coconut rice
300g of basmati rice
700ml of coconut water, (the kind sold fresh for drinking)

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First make the spice paste. Roughly chop the shallots, garlic, galangal, ginger, chillies and lemon grass, then place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse, adding the water to make a fine paste. Set aside

Cut the beef into 4cm chunks. Heat a heavy-based pan over a medium heat and add half the dripping. Add the beef, in batches if necessary, and cook on all sides until browned, then remove from the pan and set aside

Add the remaining dripping and the spice paste and fry for 2 minutes, then add the cinnamon, cloves and star anise and cook for a further 2 minutes

Return the browned beef to the pan, along with the toasted desiccated coconut. Stir well, then add the coconut water, tamarind paste, fish and soy sauces, lime leaves and beef broth and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a bare simmer, stirring regularly to make sure it doesn’t stick. Cover with a lid and cook gently for 1½ hours, or until the meat is tender

To make the coconut rice, place the rice and coconut water in a heavy-based pan over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, then cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to stand for a few minutes before serving

Meanwhile, remove the lid from the beef and cook for a further 15 minutes, until just thickened. Add the lime juice, season with salt and pepper and serve with the coconut rice

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Richard Turner

Chef Richard H. Turner is a man of many meaty pleasures. Classically trained by legendary chefs the Roux brothers, Pierre Koffmann and Marco Pierre White, these days he's up past his forearms in the London restaurant scene - from London's celebrated Pitt Cue Co., to Hawksmoor, Foxlow and beyond.