~883 cal · 53g protein · 22g carbs · 67g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Dark dry beef coated in toasted coconut spice
🇮🇩 West Sumatra
Rendang is the Minangkabau people’s ceremonial masterpiece from West Sumatra — cooked so long the coconut milk breaks and re-fries the meat in its own toasted paste. Once crowned the world’s most delicious dish, it was invented to keep for weeks without refrigeration.
Sign in to save recipes to your book and leave reviews.
Make it yours
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
Ingredients
Serves 6 —
•
2.5 lbs beef chuck, large cubes
•
2 cans (28 oz) coconut milk
•
8 shallots
•
6 cloves garlic
•
2-inch ginger
•
2-inch galangal
•
8 dried red chilies
•
4 fresh red chilies
•
3 stalks lemongrass
•
5 kaffir lime leaves
•
1 turmeric leaf (if found)
•
1 stick cinnamon
•
4 cloves
•
2 star anise
•
1/2 cup toasted grated coconut (kerisik)
•
1 tbsp tamarind
•
1 tbsp palm sugar
Instructions
1
Blend the shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal, and chilies into a fine spice paste.
2
Fry the paste in a little oil with the whole spices and bruised lemongrass until deeply fragrant.
3
Add the beef (or mushrooms and jackfruit), coconut milk, and lime leaves; simmer uncovered, stirring often.
4
Cook 3 hours (1 hour for the plant version) as the liquid slowly reduces — around the 2-hour mark it will start to fry in its own oil. Stir constantly now so it doesn’t catch.
5
Add the toasted coconut, tamarind, and palm sugar; cook until the beef is dark mahogany and nearly dry, coated in spice. Serve with rice.
Minangkabau ceremonial tradition, West Sumatra.
Ratings & reviews
Sign in to rate this recipe once you’ve cooked it.
No reviews yet — be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
West Sumatra. Minangkabau country — home of the dish crowned world’s best.
🗺️
Indonesia. Seventeen thousand islands, each with its own sambal.
🌍
Asia. From street-cart woks to slow monastery kitchens.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
More from Indonesia
Nasi Goreng Kampung
Village-style fried rice, smoky and sweet with kecap manis, crowned with a crisp-edged fried egg.
Gado-Gado
Jakarta’s "mix-mix": blanched vegetables, tofu, tempeh, and egg under warm peanut sauce.
Es Cendol
Green rice-flour jellies in iced coconut milk sweetened with dark palm sugar syrup.