Lemon rendang (Indonesian beef stew)

I'm back from the BBQ with my parents again! Had a great weekend. The BBQ was delicious and we talked about anything and everything, and afterwards we drove up to the coast for a 2 hour walk over the dunes to digest our food.
The food we had was delicious; lamb steak, lamb kabob, chicken skewers (with lemon and thyme), salad and much more. My mom had made a wonderful sunbutter satay sauce, which was the best ever (she allowed me to post the recipe on my blog, will do that soon!) and afterwards she also made heavenly sunbutter ice-cream.
After our long walk there were apple muffins, and some snacks to enjoy while watching a movie. (the Hangover 2, predictable, but pretty funny!) We mostly talked about holiday planning and travelling and all in all we had a very good time.


Last week I had made myself a lemon rendang that I want to share with you. Don't be scared by the long list of ingredients for this dish. It's worth it!! And most of the ingredients are spices, if you're into cooking you might even have all of them at home already.
This dish is inspired by a traditional Indonesian rendang; a beef stew. This typically contains shrimp and soy sauce, and some other ingredients I couldn't get my hands on or am intolerant to. So I just made my own version, and it worked out really well.


It's best to make this dish a day in advance and reheat it when you need it. That way, the flavours will have all night to combine and make everything taste even better.
After 2,5 hours of simmering, I found my rendang to be a little too wet (I added approx. 2 cups of water instead of just 1), so I took the lid off and heated it for another hour, so it thickened quite a bit. The meat will be done after 2,5 hours, but in my opinion it only gets better over time. I never cook it for over 4 hours though.

       

Lemon rendang (serves 3-4)
- 2 red onions, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 1/2 celeriac, diced
- 1/4 cup creamed coconut
- 600g diced beef
- 2 cm piece of ginger
- 2 sprigs lemongrass
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- black pepper
- 1/2 lemon
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 tbsp coconut oil


1. Heat coconut oil in a wok and fry the onions and garlic until soft.
2. Add celeriac and carrots, along with the creamed coconut, 1 cup of water and the dry spices (turmeric, coriander, paprika, cumin and black pepper).
3. Fry for a few minutes until the creamed coconut has dissolved completely.
4. Stir in the diced beef and add ginger, lemongrass and 1/2 lemon. Bring to a simmer.
5. Reduce heat to low and cover the wok with a lid. Simmer for at least 2,5 hours until the beef is tender and practically falls apart. Add some more water when the rendang starts to get dry.
6. Serve hot with some cilantro on top and enjoy!