Rendang

Coconut milk

Soak grated coconut in 4 glasses (800 ml) water.

Squeeze to make 3 glasses (600 ml) thick coconut milk, soak coconut again in 5 glasses (1 liter) water.

Squeeze again to make 4 glasses (800 ml) thin coconut milk. Set aside.

Rendang

Pour coconut milk into a deep wok, and add spice paste along with lemongrass, turmeric leaves, keffir lime leaves and Indonesian bay leaves.

Cook on medium heat while stirring occasionally until a waft of warm spicy coconut milk escapes the wok.

Add in meat, and cook while occasionally stirring it. Lower heat, and slow cook the meat while tossing carefully to ensure that the meat is not burnt at the bottom of the wok. Continue to simmer until coconut milk is reduced and oil separates from it. At this stage, you have reached the kalio stage, which is midway to becoming a rendang. You can serve this already.

Continue to slow cook on low heat taking care not to burn at the bottom of the wok, until meat turns dark and dry.

Tips

• Whole meat cut into sizeable cubes so they can withstand the long and slow cooking time.
• Pulse the spices for spice paste in a food processor before grinding them to a paste.
• Serve a portion of kalio, and keep the remaining on the wok while heating it slowly the next day. Or store in the refrigerator to be heated any time.