Beef Rendang in Rice Cooker

Serves 4

“I hate rendang!” That will be the first statement that I make about this food. I personally never liked it as I fined that the taste is too strong. I can run away from buffets but when it comes to ‘no choice’ lunch box … I will get that “zoom in…zoom out” scene from the “Twilight Zone”. But it seems that I am just one of those few people who can’t handle this most tasty food from Padang and so popular world wide that it broke number 11 in CNN pols for Worlds most delicious food according to readers choice.But I got married to my husband, a native Padang 😀 😀 😀 I had to prepare it because my husband loves it a lot.

My husband claims that this rich flavored beef curry was accidentally found by a native villager that was cooking beef curry until burnt and loved the taste, so it spread. Another sources claims that rendang was born out of cultural tradition. This glorious food has a special place  in the Minangkabau culture. Philosophically, rendang symbolizes ‘consensus’ and ‘agreement’. So, this menu will always be serves on special occasion such as ceremony, feast, welcoming guest of honor, cumcision feasts, anniversaries, Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Qurban. (wikipedia)

Over the paste year I tried to find a recipe that adjust to my taste buds and efficient cooking. The best tip that I got from my mother is to cook it with the rice cooker 3 times that fry it without oil until dry. So have a go and try this recipe.

The Ingredients:
300 gr beef chunks
1/2 medium onion
6 garlic clove
4 tbs chilli paste
2 cm ginger
1 cm galangel
1 lemon grass
200 ml Kara coconut milk
2 tsp nutmeg powder
3 star anais
2 bay leaves
2 tsp coriander powder
3 candle nut
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tbs dried coconut
1 block beef consomme
1 cup optional of: red bean, potato or boiled eggs (4 pieces)

How to prepare:
-crush the candle nuts into small bits
-mix in a blender the crushed candle nut, onion, garlic, ginger, galangal into a paste
-fry over low heat the paste until fragrant
-add the chilli paste, lemon grass, bay leave, star anais, nutmeg powder, coriander powder, fennel seed, until fragrant
-add coconut milk and blend well
-arrange beef and the optional side ingredients
-pour the paste and add the beef consomme and the dried coconut
-press the rice cooker on and do this three times
-if you think the rendang is not dry enough, fry the rendang in a non sticky pan without oil until dry