Step 1

Cut the dried red chillies in 2-3 pieces, depending on their lengths, and soak them in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes. In the meantime, get all the other ingredients ready.

Step 2

Roll your turmeric leaves up and either using a knife or a pair of scissors, cut them up into thin shreds. If using lime leaves, just tear the leaves up.

Step 3

Drain and rinse the chillies, and losing the seeds, if you like. Place them aside.

Step 4

Start chopping your ingredients in the order that they are listed in the above list. Start with lemongrass, chop for 10 seconds, then galangal, chop for another 10 seconds, then ginger, then garlic, and so on. Everytime the chopped ingredients start to feel a bit dry, add a quarter of an onion for moisture. No need for water. Continue chopping/blending until you have a fairly fine mix.

Step 5

Now get a large saucepan or a dutch oven and place everying in, start with the beef, then the ground ingredients, the coconut milk, the salt, the lemongrass and finally the thinly shredded turmeric leaves or your torn lime leaves.

Step 6

Put it on a low heat and let it come to a gentle simmer. Stir to mix everything up, and leave, uncovered, to cook for a minimum of 2 and a half hours to 3, until the beef is meltingly tender and you have a dry-ish curry.

Step 7

You shouldn't really need to stir the rendang until the last 30 minutes or so, where you'll have to do it a handful of times, as it starts to dry up and may start to catch on the base. Check seasoning and add more salt if you think it needs it.

Step 8

Serve as suggested above. The beef rendang will keep, covered, for a week in the fridge. It also freezes well, although the beef will be falling apart even more after freezing.

Step 9

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