Rendang Daging Recipe

3 inch cube fresh galangal
2 sticks fresh lemon grass
4-6 dried hot red chilies
2inch stick cinnamon
12-14 cloves
4oz red pepper
3.5 oz shallots or onions
1inch cube fresh ginger
7-8 cloves garlic
12 curry leaves
8 kaffir lime leaves
2.75 pints coconut milk
2lb stewing beef cut into 1.5 to 2 inch cubes

Peel and coarsely chop galangal, cut of straw like top of lemon grass, peel of a layer and crush what's left. Crumble up red chilies and cinnamon into water (to cover), plus cloves. Peel and coarsely chop Shallots/onions, red pepper, ginger and garlic. Put into an electric blender and blend until smooth. (Food processor will work but you may have to add some cooking oil to keep it off the sides).

Take the resulting paste, lemon grass, curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves and put into a wide non stick pan (or wok or anything really) with the coconut milk (stir first to get all of it out of the can). Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Turn heat to medium and cook sauce for 15 minutes. Stir now and again to prevent curdling. Put in the meat (and salt if you like), bring to the boil, lower heat and simmer for an hour, stirring from time to time. Turn up the heat from medium to high and continue to cook, stirring from time to time for 30 minutes or until the sauce is very thick and brown and the meat is tender. (If the sauce begins to splatter too much cover loosely. At this stage the dish is called KALIYO. To make RENDANG stir and cook until the sauce has disappeared.