Staples For Rendang Paste

A_Sober_Paddy

Hey all

Just thinking of trying some Indonesian style dishes and Beef Rendang has come up, as to as liver Rendang...

But from looking around the internet, there seems to be a wide variation of spices and herbs used in just the paste, for just the beef rendang.

Is there a definitive list of ingredients for the paste?

Garlic, Galangal, Shallot/Onion, Ginger, Chilis, Tumeric, Lemongrass...Butsome have shrimp paste and others don't?

Its all a bit confusing:eek:

Cheers in advance

Minder

James Oseland is my go to expert for all things Indonesian. His recipe for Beef Rendang is here

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Beef-Rendang

And includes cloves, nutmeg and candlenuts. I've never seen candlenuts in even the most authentic of oriental supermarkets. I also recall that Oseland's recipe in his book includes fennel seeds. Will check it and post...

Mrs Fox

Minder wrote: »

I've never seen candlenuts in even the most authentic of oriental supermarkets.

Macadamia is the closest substitute. I brought along a bag of candlenuts from my trip last year, and to be honest with you between them and macadamias, once they're blended into the spice and cooked, I couldn't tell the difference.

As for the paste, OP you've got the main elements right. Additional spices and aromatics differ from region to region. I've never added shrimp paste although I've seen several recipes that include them. I think the purpose is to add that savoury dimension to the dish. Some add ketjap manis (if I'm not mistaken this is Minang/Sumatran style rendang).
My grandmother used to make country style rendang, where the only ingredients were meat, lemongrass, turmeric leaves, fresh turmeric, bird's eye chillies, coconut milk and galangal - all cooked on open fire until dry.
I'd normally add pounded toasted shredded/dessicated coconut (kerisik) at the end of cooking to thicken and darken the rendang.

I've tried the recipe provided by Minder a number of times and they're absolutely yum.
You can also check out the rendang recipe by Rasa Malaysia, which I can also vouch for.

B0jangles

Last year I found candlenuts in the Oriental Emporium on abbey street; they come in a vac pack and were quite hard to spot among the other nut-type ingredients

the beer revolu

Minder's Beef Rendang is my go to recipe.
Never failed me yet.