Rendang dan Roti Jala

Rendang is Indonesian spicy beef stew. This curried beef is originally from Sumatra, Indonesia, but you can find them not only in Indonesia but also in Malaysia and Singapore, where descendants from Sumatra introduced the dish.

There are many variety of rendang, some sweeter and some spicier, and some even said, rendang is actually from Java instead Sumatra. This is all depending which kind of rendang you eat actually 🙂 The spicier rendang would be from Sumatra while the sweeter rendang would be from Java.

Sometimes it is served with compressed rice cake called lontong/ketupat, sometimes with rice, and some other time with lacy crepe (roti jala) which is the one on the picture.

The following rendang has grated coconut mixed into the stew, which I like to do. However, my family has different kind of rendang and they do not add grated coconut into their style of stew 🙂

100 g unsweetened desiccated coconut

600 g beef cubes (you can use moose, elks, deer)

2 lemon grass stalks

1 turmeric leaf (this is hard to find unless you grown them yourself, omit if you don’t have)

2.5 cm dried galangal

1 – 2 cans of coconut milk (not coconut milk beverage)

1 tbsp cooking oil

2 beef cubes from Knorr

Paste:

20 dried bird eye chilies, soften in hot water, seeded (please use gloves) – you can also use fresh chilies, more or less of the amount is depending how spicy you’d like it to be

5 cloves garlic

1 big onion

2.5 cm fresh ginger

2.5 cm fresh turmeric

Place all ingredients for paste into a blender/food processor, add in a little water and a little oil, pulse into smooth paste

Dry-fry coconut until brownish and set aside

Heat cooking oil and saute paste until fragrant

Add in beef cubes, stir to coat

Add in galangal and lemon grass into the pot, stir

Add in coconut milk, stir, cook until beef is tender

Add in knorr, adjust flavor (add a little sugar or brown sugar if needed)

Continue cooking in low-medium heat until gravy is thickened, then add in dried coconut, stir well

Roti Jala

150 g flour

a pinch of salt

2 eggs

150 ml coconut milk and 150 ml water (or all 300 ml water or all 300 ml coconut milk)

Place everything into a bowl, mix well either with wooden spoon or wire whisk

Heat non stick pan on low medium heat, brush with oil or butter or margarine

If you have lacy crepe mold, use that, if not just into a ziplock bag and make several holes or just one hole, or you can use bottle as shown on picture

Start creating lace crepe on the pan, once crepe getting dry/cooked, turn over to fry on the other side, place on plate

You can then roll the crepe or fold

Serve with the beef stew and enjoy warm 🙂