Beef Rendang

I choose to make Rendang for supper because I had a bulk of the ingredients on hand at the time. All I really needed to buy was the beef and galangal. It was actually quite difficult to find the galangal. I went to T&T but was unable to find it in the produce section, so I ventured into the dried/preserved vegetable aisle. I found a package of dried galangal for only $0.79! Not too shabby... and all I needed to do was soak the slices for 1 1/2 hours and I would have "almost-fresh" galangal.

You would not believe how many variations of Rendand they have posted on the internet. I know, I know, you're probably saying, "Then why use an internet recipe anyways?" I don't really know, but I'm sure that my laze factors into the equation somehow! That and I don't have a recipe for Rendang in any of my cookbooks.

I finally settled on the recipe from foodsafari.com and the only change I made was to double it. You know what probably sold me to this recipe? The fact that there's a "how to" video for this recipe! I love watching cooking shows... and when they're making things that I have all the ingredients for, it's the best :)

Looking at the Rendang I was thinking of a way to improve the presentation of my meal. I spent so much effort making it, and I didn't want to just slap it onto a bowl of rice and serve... that would not be worthy of my masterpiece. I had always wanted to make Nasi Lemak, and so that's what I decided to present my Rendang as.


"Nasi-Lemak" with Rendang

Assembly:
- Pickle some onions and cucumbers in a mixture of vinegar, salt and sugar (to taste)
- Hard-boil 2 eggs (or more if you like), quarter them and place two on each plate
- Mould some steamed rice in a bowl and place one mound on each plate
- Top rice with some pre-made ikan bilis
- Finally, just before serving, spoon the rendang onto each plate.


My parents were quite impressed with the full flavour of the Rendang. It tasted way better than the packaged stuff and the spice was extremely intense. Even my mom, who's use to eating spicy foods found my Rendang to be very hot.