Beef rendang

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 1.5kg of chuck steak (braising steak in the UK) - cut into 5-6cm chunks
• 1 quantity of rendang spice paste - as above
• 800ml canned coconut milk - don't buy the reduced fat stuff
• 4 fat lemon grass stalks - bruised - (just bash them lightly)
• 12 dried kaffir lime leaves - crumbled
• 2 x 7.5cm cinnamon sticks
• 125ml Tamarind water - all you do is soak the 60g of pulp in 125ml of hot water and leave for 5 minutes. Break up the pulp with your fingers and then strain the syrupy mixture through a fine discarding the fibrous material and seeds.
• 1 tablespoon of palm sugar (sold as a golden/tan paste) - or you can use brown sugar, palm sugar will taste better in this dish.

The Rendang:

• 3 tablespoons of coconut oil; you can use vegetable oil.
• 1.5kg of chuck steak (braising steak in the UK) - cut into 5-6cm chunks
• 1 quantity of rendang spice paste - as above
• 800ml canned coconut milk - don't buy the reduced fat stuff
• 4 fat lemon grass stalks - bruised - (just bash them lightly)
• 12 dried kaffir lime leaves - crumbled
• 2 x 7.5cm cinnamon sticks
• 125ml Tamarind water - all you do is soak the 60g of pulp in 125ml of hot water and leave for 5 minutes. Break up the pulp with your fingers and then strain the syrupy mixture through a fine discarding the fibrous material and seeds.
• 1 tablespoon of palm sugar (sold as a golden/tan paste) - or you can use brown sugar, palm sugar will taste better in this dish.

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Preparation

• Heat a dry, heavy based, frying pan over a medium heat. Add the coconut and stir for a few minutes until it is richly golden - don't let it burn. Tip into a food processor and leave to cool.
• Meanwhile, put the dried kashmiri chillies, coriander seeds and cumin seeds into a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
• Add this to the processor with the rest of the spice paste ingredients and 100ml of water. Blend to a smooth-ish paste.
• The Rendang:
  Heat the coconut oil or vegetable oil in a large, heavy based frying pan. Add the beef and fry briefly until it has changed colour but not browned. Add the spice paste, coconut milk, lemon grass, lime leaves and cinnamon sticks and 1 and a half teaspoons of salt. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, add the tamarind water and leave to simmer, uncovered for 2 and a half hours, stirring occasionally, and more frequently towards the end of cooking, until the beef is tender and the sauce has reduced and thickened. Remove the lemongrass from the rendang and stir in the palm sugar and season to taste. Serve straight away with some Jasmine rice.