Finding the ingredients was reasonably easy. Galangal sounded important. I was determined to find it. A local Chinese supermarket offered both chopped preserved in a jar and fresh ones. I opted for fresh. I was less lucky with the candlenuts so I substituted Brazil Nuts as suggested by an ingredients substitution website. Finally, I used fresh birds eye green chile, having watching something similar being prepared while in Asia. The volume of ingredients to blend was a major effort and my poor blender was in melt down failing to make anything like a paste. Fresh Galangal is quite hard and with the nuts it is just too much. I aborted and removed and grated the Galangal and nuts by hand then back for a finish off blend. Also, the quantity of Ginger and Galangal are not listed in the ingredients – I used a couple of bulbs of each. I think if you like it then just add more. Beyond that, it was really simple. Cooling times and liquid exactly as expected and results good

Reviewed On: Aug. 1, 2005

After one hour trawling the Internet for a good Asian beef recipe I found this – an attractive recipe with all ingredients all obtainable in a local supermarket – no obscure spice or vegetable taking hours to find. My partner is Malaysian and food critical. Attempting Rendang was a risky being universally known as difficult to achieve authentic results. I used real cocoanuts, smashing them and then grating the white flesh, remembering once being told that the secret of Rendang lies in the cocoanut. There is definitely a balance to be reached on cooking times. I had all the right weights and timings. Things seemed fine 15 minutes into the “simmer” then 15 minutes later the liquid had dramatically vanished – even just starting to stick and burn. Yes, it was a low heat. Further, the meat didn’t seem that tender. Panic I decided to put scrape the whole thing into a pan with a closed lid and added more water and give it another 20 minutes. The final result, very good, everyone liked it. The taste was really close to the “real thing” – but I was advised that the meat should actually be quite hard and have the coconut sticking to it. That’s the art and challenge I believe. Once that I am sure this recipe is capable of delivering with practice and care on liquids Vs Cooking times. I am going to stick with the Wok as I am sure they wouldn’t put a Rendang in a pressure cooker, useful though they are.

Reviewed On: Jul. 26, 2005