Rendang is a spicy meat dish which originated from the Minangkabau ethnic group of Indonesia, and has become popular in Malaysia and other South Asian countries.  An 2011 online poll conducted by CNN International for by 35,000 people chose Rendang as the Number 1 dish of their ‘World’s 50 Most Delicous Foods’ list. How exciting when I read about it because Rendang is also one of my favourite dishes.

This is a dry Malaysian style Beef Rendang recipe (which according to Minangkabau tradition, a true rendang is a dry one). Beef is slowly simmered with coconut milk and a mixture of lemongrass, galangal, garlic, turmeric, ginger and chilies, then left to stew for a few hours to create this dish of tender, flavorful beef.  When the meat is first cooked in spicy coconut milk, the gulai (curry) is light yellow colour. After the coconut milk is partly evaporated, it will turn brown.  Finally, when the liquid completely evaporated, the color turns to dark brown almost black in color, then you have rendang.

If cooked properly, dry rendang can last for one to four weeks at room temperature. That’s because  Rendang was originally created as a method of preserving meat. Maybe that’s why Rendang always taste better the next day!

This Beef Rendang recipe is submitted to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday. Check out Muhibbah Malaysian Monday hosted by 3hungrytummies and Test With Skewer for more Malaysian goodies!