Roll On : My Unexpected Rendang Recipe

Lazada is holding this competition for bloggers and heck yeah I am joining it since I missed it the last time. I didn't put much hope to actually win anything but it felt good to be part of this. The requirement for this week (19 May 2017 – 1 June 2017) theme is to share my favourite recipe. For that folks, I have a little story for you.

Yesterday, there is some sambal left and Walid bought ikan gerut gerut (silver grunter). I always loved the succulent meat paired with savoury gravy. Coincidentally, there are also some lemongrasses left for that steamed fish recipe so I pureed that with some onions, simmers it and put the sambal. Long story short, I was utterly shocked that it tasted like rendang. After I re-checked it - it was actually rendang that I just cooked!

Apparently, even with almost 10 years cooking experience, I still didn't know the recipe for rendang! I never even thought about it since I only saw my aunt cooked it for aidilfitri and it looked so complicated (lots of ingredients) and took too long to cook (probably because we cooked a lot and my aunt loved it dry). The sambal itself has been mixed with some coconut milk to make it creamier and tone down the spicy-ness. I was not really a bright kid, aren't I?

Not helping Sam. Pfft.
Source

That is how I unexpectedly "create" rendang - sort of. Since during fasting I always loved strong tasted food for iftar, this will be my new favourite thing to cook. I love eating rendang for iftar but I only ever buys it instead of cooking it so guys - this is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge. Marhaban Ya Ramadhan for real!

By the way, I love to keep it simple for my recipe since it is so troublesome to find all ingredients so this recipe may look too simple but I assure you it still tasted good. 

Yes, guys, I'll be sharing this recipe right of my beautiful mind - which means, totally not referring to any credentials source so don't say I didn't warn you. It tasted good - I swear!

My Unexpected Rendang Recipe

Ingredients:

500g of any meat or fish or chicken - anything you like
2 large onions (just any large onions you have, shallots is ok too, just make sure it will give the same volume)
Half garlic bulb
2 to 3 lemongrass
About an inch of turmeric
A good handful of dried chilis - if you love spicy made it two.
A small pack of coconut milk - that small pack that grocery store near your house always have
Some salt and sugar

Cooking time!

1. Took those dried chilis and clean it however you always have done it and soaked it in hot water for awhile.

2. In the meantime, clean all the large onions, garlic, turmeric and lemongrass and blend it all with some water. Then took a pan, put some oil and simmers the paste under medium fire. I love this part, the aroma is just enchanting. Simmers it until it turns brownish or until you can see the oils bubbled up.

3. While waiting for that, blend the soaked dried chilis (don't put too much water!) and when the paste in #2 is ready, put the chilli paste and continue to simmer it. Remember to stir it every once in a while.

4. While waiting for the chilis to cook, add in your meat of choice. If you're using fish, fried it beforehand. It tasted better that way in my opinion. Let that sit for a while and then put the coconut milk. 

5. When the paste looked almost done, seasons it with salt and sugar to your liking. If you want it to be a little runny, add some water and then seasons it. Make sure the paste is cooked well before adding seasoning or water (to those who wants it runny). You can achieve the best taste profile you want this way (this is actually an advice from a chef from some cooking show I watched).

6. How to know the paste are cooked? In earlier days, when I have absolutely little experience in cooking - I wait till it looked like the actual cooked ones. Waiting until the oil bubbles up also a good practice, the best bet is to taste it until you get the taste you want.

Why is my instruction too detailed? It was just blend some stuff and simmers it until cooked then add some chilli paste and simmers some more. Add meat, simmers a little then coconut milk and wait until all cooked. Lastly, seasoning!

Since Lazada always have a great sale during important events so there are of course major sale during for Raya! Their Riang Ria Raya sale has started last 19th May and all the way until 30th June. I am so excited to check some stuff they have on sale.

You know what would be great to use in this recipe? A handheld blender! The small size made it easy to work around with and of course easier to clean than the normal blender. It will make work faster too. I have my eye on this Philips's ones.

Philips HR1063/00 Hand Blender 

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Not only that, some good knives would also be good. Especially the meat and all those onions and lemongrass. Good knives also made work easier and faster and actually safer since you're working effieciently. This Nuevo's set look promising isn't it?

Nuevo Luxury Stainless Steel Kitchen Knife 8-Piece Set (Silver)

Oh ya, a good pan would complete my life to cook this. A good non-stick pan deep enough to cater the meats and gravy plus a good glass lid so I can just take a peek instead of opening the lid every time. Cleaning it would be easy too, I mean have you ever tried cleaning a non stick pan, it is practically effortless! Have you realised that all of the Riang Ria Raya sale stuff on sale that I picked here are essentially those to help my lazy ass? 

NaVa 32 cm Tri Ply Non Stick Smokeless Stainless Steel Stir Fry Wok Pan wit Tempered Glass.

By the way, I just notice you can buy your groceries from Lazada. OMG.