
Slow Cooker Beef Rendang
Speed - 95%
Simplicity - 95%
Tastiness - 100%
97%
Awesome!
This dish is a must-try! Every bite creates an explosion of interesting and complex flavors in your mouth! We get to use a lot of fun spices like cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, and lemongrass in this one. If you're tired of the typical "shredded beef" recipe in the slow cooker this one is a MUST try.

Ingredients
- 1 Kilos Beef Brisket cut into inch-cubes
- 2 Tablespoons Peanut Oil
- 1 stick Cinnamon
- 6 Pieces Cloves
- 6 Pieces Star Anise
- 6 Pieces Cardamom Pods
- 2 Cups Coconut Milk
- 2 Tablespoons Tamarind Pulp
- 6 Pieces Kaffir Lime Leaves
- 1 Cup Coconut Shavings
- 2 Tablespoons Sugar
- 1 Cup Beef Stock
- 2 Pieces Shallots
- 1 Piece Ginger
- 6 Cloves garlic
- 6 Pieces Bird's Eye Chilis
Instructions
- Combine lemongrass stalks, tamarind pulp, sugar, shallots, ginger, garlic, and chili in a food processor. Puree until smooth.
- Marinate the beef in this spice paste overnight.
- Heat peanut oil in the pan and sear beef.
- Set aside beef and roast dry spices.
- Put meat back in the pan, add coconut milk, stock, coconut shavings, and lemongrass tops.
- Cook for 8 hours in a slow cooker set to low.
This dish speaks flavor and aroma, period. The unique flavors of this Malaysian classic would be impossible to put into words.
Interested enough? Let's get cooking.
Let's start off with the spice paste. Puree the tamarind pulp, sugar, shallots, ginger, lemongrass stalks, garlic, and chilis in blender or food processor. You may have to add a bit of water or oil here to allow the ingredients to grind into a finer paste. This will yield much deeper flavors compared to using these aromatics whole or chopped.

Pour the resulting paste into a container with the beef and allow them to marinate overnight. The acids present in this paste will also aid in tenderizing the meat.

When ready to cook, take the beef out of the refrigerator and leave it out for about an hour to come to room temperature. Meanwhile, slightly toast your coconut meat shavings in a pan. Do this over medium heat, stirring constantly to keep them from burning. What we need to achieve is a light brown color, just enough to release its nutty aroma. When done, set them aside in a bowl for later.

In the same pan, tip in the beef together with the spice paste. Let all the liquid juices heat and eventually evaporate. You'll end up searing the beef after some of its fat and that from the coconut has rendered off. Continue by allowing the meat to brown slightly on each side.
You'll notice that I used beef brisket here. That choice is entirely personal preference and you may certainly go with your own liking. Brisket has a higher fat to meat ratio, which some may avoid, but is definitely be a more tender, juicier cut. For the excellent flavors in this dish, it may be worth to cheat on our diets once in a while.

After the meat has browned, and the spice paste has roasted enough, its time to add in the dry spices to roast. The fat in the pan will be sufficient to do this. Roast them until very aromatic. A good indication would be to check on the cardamom pods if they have opened up.

Next would be to combine all the ingredients. You may want to deglaze your pan with a little stock or water to loosen up all those caramelized bits of flavor at the bottom. This will not only yield flavor to the final dish, but would deepen its dark brown color.
Add everything to the slow cooker, together with a bundled stalk of lemongrass and the toasted coconut shavings we saved earlier. This will add a nutty flavor that will round up the spices in this dish. It will also make the resulting sauce thicker much similar to a gravy.

Cook in a slow cooker for about 8 hours on low. The dish would be ready to eat after. I like my rendang toasted further though, rendering much more of the coconut oil out. To do this, just transfer everything to a pan and allow to cook for another five minutes or until the sauce has considerably dried up.
Doing this, makes the dish taste nuttier, and gives the beef a more flavorful crust.





Ingredients
- 1 Kilos Beef Brisket cut into inch-cubes
- 2 Tablespoons Peanut Oil
- 1 stick Cinnamon
- 6 Pieces Cloves
- 6 Pieces Star Anise
- 6 Pieces Cardamom Pods
- 2 Cups Coconut Milk
- 2 Tablespoons Tamarind Pulp
- 6 Pieces Kaffir Lime Leaves
- 1 Cup Coconut Shavings
- 2 Tablespoons Sugar
- 1 Cup Beef Stock
- 2 Pieces Shallots
- 1 Piece Ginger
- 6 Cloves garlic
- 6 Pieces Bird's Eye Chilis
Instructions
- Combine lemongrass stalks, tamarind pulp, sugar, shallots, ginger, garlic, and chili in a food processor. Puree until smooth.
- Marinate the beef in this spice paste overnight.
- Heat peanut oil in the pan and sear beef.
- Set aside beef and roast dry spices.
- Put meat back in the pan, add coconut milk, stock, coconut shavings, and lemongrass tops.
- Cook for 8 hours in a slow cooker set to low.
Rendang is Indonesian from the Padang region. Not Malaysian.