Beef rendang with homemade chili paste

Beef Rendang is a Malaysian curry whereby there is very little gravy, but the meat is so tender, it falls apart easily. It is commonly eaten with nasi lemak or plain rice. It actually tastes better if kept overnight.

 1800 gm beef chuck eye

Cut the beef into bite-size cubes
Wash and drain

To make the chilli paste

10 shallots
6 cloves garlic
3 buah keras (candlenuts) to thicken the chilli paste
10 - 12 dried chillies  
3 lemongrass (white part only)
1 inch ginger

Cut all the ingredients into small pieces and put into a bowl 
Mix it up 

Cut the dried chilli into small pieces so that it is easy to remove the seeds. 

Put the cut chilli into a colander and place on a plate

Shake the colander so that the seeds will drop onto the plate

Put the chilli into a pot of water and boil for 5 minutes
Boiling the chilli makes it softer for blending and also removes the raw taste of the chilli
When the chilli is ready drain the water and shake off any more seeds left inside

Put 100 ml water and all the ingredients into the blender

Blend until it is a smooth paste 

Aromatics 

1 stick cinnamon, about 2-inch length3 cloves

3 star anise
3 cardamom pods
2 teaspoons tamarind pulp (assam jawa)
6 kaffir lime leaves
6 tablespoons kerisik, toasted coconut
1 tablespoon sugar or palm sugar to taste
salt to taste

Heat 5 tablespoons of cooking oil in the wok.

Add the cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and cardamom and stir-fry until aromatic. 

Add the chilli paste and fry until the oil comes to the surface

Add the beef, kafir lime leaves and lemongrass and mix thoroughly

 Soak the tamarind pulp in some warm water for the juice and discard the seeds

Add the coconut milk, tamarind juice, water and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes

Transfer to the slow cooker and cook for 3 hours

Add the kerisik (toasted coconut), palm sugar, stirring to blend well with the meat.

Cook for another hour or until the meat is tender.

If the gravy is too watery, transfer to a wok 
Cover and simmer until the gravy has dried up.

Add more salt and sugar to taste if needed.
Serve immediately with steamed rice or nasi lemak and save some for overnight.