Indonesian Beef Rendang

This is a mild beef curry recipe from the Far East, flavoured with coconut milk and lemongrass.

Serves 6 Ready in 3 hours

INGREDIENTS:

2 lemongrass stalks 2 large red chillies, deseeded and chopped 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 5cm piece of ginger, roughly chopped 1 large onion, roughly chopped ½ tsp ground ginger 1 tbsp ground coriander 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 2 tbsp sunflower oil 2 cinnamon sticks 12 cloves 2 bay leaves 600ml canned coconut milk 1.5kg braising steak, such as chuck or blade, cut into 5cm pieces 1 tsp salt Walnut-sized piece of tamarind pulp or 2 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp Billington’s Dark Muscovado Sugar

METHOD:

01.Remove the outer leaves from the lemongrass stalks and reserve. Roughly chop the tender core and put into a food processor with the chillies, garlic, fresh ginger, onion, ground ginger, coriander, cumin, black pepper and 2 tablespoons of water. Blend to a smooth paste. 02.Heat the sunflower oil in a large flameproof casserole over a medium heat. Add the cinnamon sticks and cloves and allow them to sizzle for about 1 minute. Add the spice paste and bay leaves and fry gently for 2 minutes. Add the coconut milk, 200ml water, the beef, reserved lemongrass leaves and the salt and bring to the boil. 03.Meanwhile, if you are using the tamarind pulp, put in a small bowl with 120ml of warm water and work through with your fingers to release the seeds. Strain the syrupy mixture into a clean bowl and discard the seeds. 04.Lower the heat to a simmer, add the tamarind liquid or lemon juice and muscovado sugar and leave to cook uncovered for 2½ hours, stirring more frequently as the liquid reduces, until the sauce is well reduced and quite thick and the beef is very tender. Serve with plain rice and a cucumber, tomato, red onion and coriander salsa.