Beef Rendang

[spaghetttti]

Hi Chewme, (cumi?) heheh

So glad to see another Indonesian poster!

I love rendang, the best that I've tasted is made by a friend who's originally from Bukittinggi, West Sumatera. On the several occasions she's made some especially for me, they've not all been just beef chunks. The latest rendition was beef offal (lung & liver). I also liked a rendang where she added some small red beans to it.

Homemade rendang, mmmm. I just don't like the rendang served in Padang restaurants here in Bandung, which are somewhere between kalio and rendang.

To me, the "blacker" the rendang the better.

For

[Pan]

I never realized people made rendang with offal. What other items can be the basis for rendang?

[spaghetttti]

Hi Michael, how are you? This must be nostalgic for you, yes?

I'm sitting here with some co-workers discussing rendang, and although some have had chicken rendang, we all agree that beef holds up really well compared to chicken. The chunks maintain their shapes better whereas the chicken either turned into shreds or just got too hard to enjoy. (I'm sure that chicken is more suited to kalio than rendang).

Lamb would probably be just too tender, wouldn't you think?

Best,

yetty

[Pan]

Lamb would probably be just too tender, wouldn't you think?

Yeah, this is fun. I love rendang!

I do think lamb would be too tender, but how do you suppose goat would hold up?

I don't think I'm familiar with kalio.

[Pan]

Yetty, I wonder whether you'd like to give a longer rundown on Minangkabau dishes. I've been to Negeri Sembilan but I never made it to the west coast of Sumatra, so I haven't had the pleasure of having Nasi Padang in Padang or seeing the city of Bukittingi.

[spaghetttti]

Here, kalio is more stewlike and wetter than rendang. I believe kalio is mid- stage before reaching true rendang consistency.

BTW any plans to come out this way again anytime in the near future? I'll be coming home very soon for a short visit and can't wait to eat my way through NYC!

[Pan]

Not that soon, but I'll PM you.

[JustKay]

I'm sitting here with some co-workers discussing rendang, and although some have had chicken rendang, .............

What about beef liver? Sometimes beef is mixed with the liver for rendang (my MIL does this all the time).

When using chicken for rendang, usually 'retired' chickens are used. heh heh ... 'retired' meaning chickens that are past egg-laying period, hence tougher meat and needs to be cooked for a long time anyways. LOL!

Which part of Indonesia are you from? I hope you will share Indonesian recipes too. Especially the dishes from Bukittinggi. Our former PM went to Bukittinggi and loved the food he had at this one restaurant that he arranged for it to open up a branch here in KL. I've never been there yet though.

And what do you think the difference is between 'Indonesian Rendang' and 'Malaysian Rendang'. I've only had the 'black' kind of rendang in Indonesian restaurants in Malaysia. I'd say the taste is somewhat similar but there's some difference in it's fragrance? Perhaps, the leaves used are different? It's usually kaffir lime leaves and tumeric leaves in Malaysian Rendang dishes.

Edited May 28, 2004 by kew (log)

[spaghetttti]

Oh yes, I've had beef liver rendang. It's gorgeous, the liver is quite firm in texture and has incredible flavor, really adds dimension to the spiciness of rendang.

The beef lung is also delicious. It's chewy, in a good way!

Being from a neighboring island (West Java), I'm really not all that familiar with the cuisine from Bukittinggi. I like it, but don't know too much background about what I've been eating.

Veering off slightly, another dish I like is dendeng balado. Quite colorful though not too spicy. A fried beef jerky with bright red chilies, it's wonderful on hot rice (eaten using hands/fingers- no spoons or forks, thank you).

[JustKay]

Veering off slightly, another dish I like  is dendeng balado. Quite colorful though not too spicy.  A fried beef jerky with bright red chilies, it's wonderful on hot rice (eaten using hands/fingers- no spoons or forks, thank you).

Would this be the dendeng I mentioned above?

I see many different recipes for Dendeng Daging. Some even have gravy. But the one I like is the one I described above.

What about 'kerutuk'? Do you have kerutuk in Indonesia or is it actually an Indon dish? Our cuisines are rather a mishmash, don't you think?

Edited May 28, 2004 by kew (log)

[Chewme]

hi chewme!  welcoem to the forums.  do you have a recipe for indonesian style rendang?

Do you live in the United States ?

I am not sure how easy it is find all the right ingridients to cook authentic Padang rendang in your local area. I live in New York City, and although these days my taste bud is not exactly Indonesian or South East Asian anymore, with all the good restaurants here. Hey... I mean after you've tasted Daniel, Jean Georges, Babbo, Peter Luger, Sushi Yasuda, not to mention over the years, I've travelled to great cities all around the world offering the best culinary arts of their kind, I try to look at food or cuisines in may different ways and I value authenticity but also creativity.

But yes, I do sometimes crave about food I ate back home, a quick trip to LA or San Francisco, where there are much better (and authentic) Indonesian restaurants could resolve that impulse burst of appetite.

From Indonesian families (some from West Sumatra), I've talked to here in NYC, you can get some ingridients here but not all of them. In fact, they have import some of them themselves through mail or when their families are visiting over. Nevertheless, some ingridients you buy here in the US just doesn't taste the same as the original one. Some familes here even planted them in their apartments (houses). I know that for a fact.

Somehow the chillies and spices planted from Padang soil seems to taste very distinct and stronger and more intense than any other areas in Indonesia, therefore EVEN if you are in Indonesia, chances are it's very hard to find great Padang Restaurants outside West Sumatra. The most popular and famous mainstream Padang restaurant in Jakarta (with some branches throughout the country now) is called SARI BUNDO. Remember to eat at these restaurants when you want to try a good, authentic Indonesian restaurants when you visit Jakarta.

But I'll see if I can steal you some authentic secret recipes, if I do I'll post them. :)

Edited May 28, 2004 by Chewme (log)

[Chewme]

Not sure what which type of rendang are you guys referring to, but being from Indonesia (I might be biased), we always claimed that satay, rendang, gado gado, and rujak are originated in Indonesia.

The only one I wouldn't have thought that of was rojak. The best satay I ever had was at a little hole-in-the-wall on the outskirts of Jakarta, in 1976. We asked the chef/owner what his secret was, and he smilingly led us to an enclosed yard where he had hung a bunch of goat meat tied in papaya skins. The original meat tenderizer.

When you said "tough" I was thinking of kerbau (water buffalo) meat, but you're talking about beef?

Fascinating about the several-days cooking. Makes sense, though: Many European stews also taste better the 2nd day (though they're usually reheated rather than cooked continuously).

Glad to have you here!

Well first of all let's clarify some terms and a quick glimpse of the culinary diversity for further future food discussion.

Rojak is spelled Rujak in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language) and satay is spelled Sate in Indonesian

In Indonesia, being a huge country with 17,000 islands, and many ethnic groups with different culture, dialects, and obviously cuisines. There are so many different types of rujaks. The most famous rujak is the Eastern Java version, called Rujak Cingur, almost the same as mainstream rujak you find in Jakarta, but here they put cingur. Cingur is cow's nose. Very famous. But other provinces and cities have distinctive rujak version as well. Even in Padang, they have rujak.

Satay (or Sate). Again, I might be biased since I grew up eating the Indonesian version. The Thai and the Malaysian version are way too sweet in my opinion, although I've never really explored these two versions further only to the mainstream restaurants in NYC, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and throughout other cities in the US and Asia.

But in Indonesia, there are hundreds and hundreds of satay variation in Indonesia. Mostly by the region where it's from. As a general rule, it's divided by the difference in meat. You know whether it's chicken, beef or lamb (well.. actually it's goat, mostly Indonesian eat goats not lamb and baby goat is the best). But there are many famous varieties too, satays made of boiled egg yolks (normally combined with chicken meat into the sticks), rabbits, mussels (very famous), cow's lungs, tendons, cow's tongue, fishes, shrimps, pork, etc etc basically hundreds of varities. There are hundreds of sauces too, but overall it's divided into two kind, peanut sauce and sweet soy sauce (kecap Manis).

Satay Padang (Sate Padang) is also famous throughout Indonesia, it's very distinctive than other maisntream sate, because it uses a lot of cow's inside, particularly cow's tongues, in addition to the beef. Intestines are used a lot.

But it is the unordinary sauce that makes it popular and unique. The sauce used is the heavily concentrated, thickened yellowish (looks like diarrhea I'm NOT kidding) sauce on top of the satay ... and it's aroma can wake up the entire building, very strong in flavor, very very HOT and full of fat and cholestherol... lol.

Edited May 28, 2004 by Chewme (log)

[Chewme]

Hi Chewme, (cumi?) heheh

So glad to see another Indonesian poster!

I love rendang, the best that I've tasted is made by a friend who's originally from Bukittinggi, West Sumatera. On the several occasions she's made some especially for me, they've not all been just beef chunks. The latest rendition was beef offal (lung & liver). I also liked a rendang where she added some small red beans to it.

Homemade rendang, mmmm. I just don't like the rendang served in Padang restaurants here in Bandung, which are somewhere between kalio and rendang.

To me, the "blacker" the rendang the better.

For

Hello Spaghetttti,

So you live in Bandung ? Wow... very nice. I love the city of Bandung, Paris of Java. It's been a while since I went to Bandung. Love all the Sundanese food (all the bbq and lalapan) and all the old-style Chinese food in Bandung, not too mention the world famous cream puffs in Jl Merdeka there, I like the fact that they are so old-style, and heavily influenced by the Dutch using a lot of rum. Bandung is a great town to find munchies and snacks, so famous that you can buy them here.

Well... I do think the rendang served just about anywhere (with some exception of hole in the wall restaurants in Jakarta and some famous ones) are not quite authentic. Mostly when we are in Jakarta, we either make our own rendang, but these take at least 1-2 days to make, to ensure the right thickness and enough absorption of flavor into the beef cubes and our house will smell, so when we live in Jakarta we normally order them from a Padangnese lady.

Yes you right, kalio is somewhere between kalio and rendang.

I think we can categorize these coconut oil immersed dishes into 3 main categories:

Kari (Curry) ---- Kalio (half-way in between) ---- Rendang

The blacker the better yes, but some people prefer the lighter, more tender version found in Jakarta and here in the United States which is understandable.

Some of friends although love the black, heavily spiced rendang, can't eat more than one due to the overwhelming spices and aroma after eating it.

[Pan]

Thanks for your responses, Chewme.

Wow, offal! Sounds like I have to head for the Minangkabau country one of these days...

Malaysians will correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that the best places to get satay in KL are stalls, not restaurants. Everyone in Malaysia used to say that the Satay in Kajang was best, but Kajang is no longer on the main highway and KL-area friends told me they never go to Kajang anymore and that many of the Kajang satay-makers moved to KL. But it doesn't surprise me if you found the sauce too sweet. I also lament the decline in availability of ketupat. Is ketupat still routinely served at sate stalls in Indonesia?

I use the Malay spellings. Batik is still pronounced "batek" to me, regardless of "ejaan baru" (the "new" [by now around 30 years old] spelling which is designed to harmonize Malay and Indonesian spellings).

[JustKay]

Malaysians will correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that the best places to get satay in KL are stalls, not restaurants. Everyone in Malaysia used to say that the Satay in Kajang was best, but Kajang is no longer on the main highway and KL-area friends told me they never go to Kajang anymore and that many of the Kajang satay-makers moved to KL.

The most famous Satay Kajang (though not necessarily the best) would be Satay Kajang Hj. Samuri, according to NT7 (a local tv station). He has branches all over KL. He has at least one (very nice and comfy) restaurant (in Taman Warisan Putrajaya) - others are just stalls.

Besides the usual chicken and beef satay, they also have fish (I don't like this fish they use), ostrich, tripe, liver lung, and venison (deer). Some supermarkets also carry his frozen products.

I don't think the kajang satay makers have moved to KL. They are still there - only branched out elsewhere. They have moved the stalls though to a newly built complex especially for satay hawkers. There's also another place nearer to the shopping complex (Metro Kajang) in the heart of Kajang where they are a dozen or so satay vendors.

As for personal preference, I don't quite like the satays they have here. I prefer the ones in Johor where they're more spicy and cut into smaller chunks.

In Johor, you can also get Satay Sotong (sotong = squid, cuttlefish, cumi-cumi) and the sauce for this Satay Sotong is slightly different in that it is more 'peppery' ie red hot.

editied to add: there is a newly opened chain of 'fast-food' restaurants called Sate King (theme colors unlike Burger King!) - they serve satay burgers and things like that. The other 'fast-food' satay oulets like Satay Ria, has long been gone. There was a good Indonesian Satay outlet (Yanti Sate or something) in Subang Parade but it's not the same one now.

Edited May 31, 2004 by kew (log)

[tryska]

I do in fact live in the States Chewme - so i may have problems finding ingredients.

i see everyone talking about long simmer times - can you make rendange in a pressure cooker and have it taste as good?

[JustKay]

tryska, the reason rendang is simmered for a longer period of time than other dishes is to allow the spices to 'mature'. I cook my rendang for about 4hrs at least. Reheat the next day, it taste just as good as I remember my Grandma used to make.

As I've mentioned, in the old days, less choicer cuts of meats are used for rendang because they can't be used in other dishes. According to my Grandma (although she is no culinary scholar - she was a caterer, and taught cooking & baking classes and was the best 'chef' within the village ) that is also why rendang was concocted - so that these tougher meats won't go to waste. And also the reason rendang uses so many spices, and flavorful - to help enhance the dish that uses less favorable meat.

Therefore, the rendang needs to be simmered for some time even if we now use better cuts - to allow for the spices to 'mature' and penetrate the meat. But, not as long as before though.

Have you decided which recipe to try? Malaysian or Indonesian rendang?

I have only tasted Indonesian rendang at the Indonesian restaurants here in Malaysia. We have 3 good restaurants that I know of - Sari Bunda and Tambuah Mas, and the one that our ex-PM likes (never been to this one though). I know the owner of Tambuah Mas and the cooks are specially brought in from Bukittingi. So, I guess the dishes are pretty authentic. They taste good. Sari Bunda serves great Padang dishes. Indonesian rendang, to me are similar to Malaysian rendang and like the many versions of Malaysian rendang, they are similar yet different. I think Indonesian rendang uses different leaves too. Malay cuisine and Indonesian cuisine are like siblings - while similar they can be quite different.

I have quite a few more Malaysian rendang recipes if you're interested, becasue like I said, most of the states in Malaysia have their own version. And then again, each household makes it a little differently. But they're all still rendang though (and I do realize some people omit the kerisik and still call them rendang. LOL! But trust me, you want authentic rendang with kerisik. )

I suggest you try making the kerisik first and see how that goes. Once you have the kerisik, making rendang is easy. Just time consuming.

I would think making rendang in a slow cooker would be a better bet than a pressure cooker. But I've never tried it. I think it's best you try make it in the conventional way first (in a big wok), and take it from there once you have made your own version of the perfect rendang - "tryska's beef rendang".

Edited June 3, 2004 by kew (log)

[tryska]

In my experience kew - I really don't like using the slow cooker for that type of stuff, unless with fresh herbs. it seems that flavors never meld correctly - not like cooking something stovetop. and of course it never really evaporates all the water off either because the heat is so low. I'm going to try the malaysian version first i think/

i like the idea of making kerisik beforehand.

here's a silly question.....how do i get meat out of the coconuts? I can get fresh coconut here, but i'm at a loss for how to get the flesh out without an indian style grater like my mother had.

[JustKay]

tryska - true on the slow cooker.

About the coconut - you'll have to crack the coconut into 2, then pry the meat out. Adn then, use a hand-held grater if you have one but it's a tough job. Can't you get freshly grated coconuts?

Otherwise, I'd just go with canned coconut milk for the rendang and dessicated coconuts to make kerisik.

Edited June 4, 2004 by kew (log)

[tryska]

i don't know. i can get freshly cracked coconuts. but i may go the desiccated coconut and coconut milk way altho i prefer doing everything from fresh ingredients. i'll see if maybe my mother will ship me her coconut grater. lord knows she never uses it.

[JustKay]

i don't know. i can get freshly cracked coconuts. but i may go the desiccated coconut and coconut milk way altho i prefer doing everything from fresh ingredients. i'll see if maybe my mother will ship me her coconut grater. lord knows she never uses it.

I hear you tryska. Nothing beats fresh.

Just a note though since I realize there are sweetened dessicated coconuts in the US - pls use the unsweetened one.

Haha! Maybe your Mom will buy and ship you the electric coconut grater.

[tryska]

there's an electronic cocnut grater? how exciting! and yeah - no i would never use the sweetened stuff. gah - i cna't evne imagine what that faux pas would be like...

[trillium]

i don't know.  i can get freshly cracked coconuts.  but i may go the desiccated coconut and coconut milk way altho i prefer doing everything from fresh ingredients.  i'll see if maybe my mother will ship me her coconut grater.  lord knows she never uses it.

I hear you tryska. Nothing beats fresh.

It depends on where you are and what season it is. Here in the US, for S'porean dishes that rely on coconut milk we tend to use canned (even though I will usually always use something fresh vs. canned or dried) because you just can't get very good quality coconut milk from the coconuts we can buy here. Surprisingly, we had the same problem in Chicago, even though there is a huge fresh eating coconut population there...you could even buy coconut scrapers in the south Asian grocery stores. The S'porean gets very frustrated over all that work for such a low return and mutters about how he needs the pre-grated, nice and oily and flavorfull coconut from the wet market he grew up using...

If you are determined to do it the fresh route without a grater you can pry the meat from the skin and then grate it on a box blender.

regards,

trillium

[tryska]

mmmm - i didn't think about the fact that we can't get good quality coconut even fresh. I'll have to see what's in the stores.

[bbq4meanytime]

I'm fortunate that my mom recently gave me an island-style (polynesian-micronesian) coconut grater. It has a metal flattened head about 1.5" in diameter with a very sharp metal serrated edge and is attached to a plank. You sit on the plank (on a chair or stool) and grate the coconut over a bowl. Extremely efficient.

So I attempted kerisik this weekend. It seems that you have pound the toasted coconut in small batches (my mortar is small). Any way around this?

Can you store the unpounded toasted coconut (so I can pound only the amount that I need). Is there an advantage to to pounding the coconut as needed as opposed to pounding all of it and storing the kerisik?

Thanks.