In order to put my stance against any claim that a woman's place is in the home, I have been deliberately avoiding cooking anything that requires prolonged standing in front of the stove . But after last year's debacle of serving my husband, brother, and my mum very salty eggs on toast (with grilled Tomato - just to make it sound a little bit more gourmet) as a token of celebration marking the end of Ramadhan, I thought I ought to put in some dramatic efforts to make Lebaran in Canberra more than err, fried eggs on toast.
This year, I actually gave in to my husband's request for a semi-authentic Ied menu like what his mama used to serve every Lebaran. We settled for Gulai Buncis (Beef and green beans red curry), Beef Rendang, and Opor Ayam (yellow chicken curry) and Lontong (rice cake). Mr. Katadia actually also requested Sambal Goreng Ati, but the thought of cutting up beef liver was just so daunting and definitely out of my league.
Ied was on Friday this year. I started shopping for the 'feast' on the weekend, stocking up on fresh ginger, galangal, lemon grass, coconut milk, and bay leaves from the Asian grocer. I bought some meat from the Halal meat butcher on my first day off that week on Tuesday. I started cooking Rendang when the kids fell asleep on Wednesday afternoon. It took all afternoon and pretty well into the evening for my rendang to resemble something close to my ma in law's .
Mr. K was very impressed with the results. My mum was also shocked, and it seemed that she was more impressed this time than when I submitted my thesis!
Beef Rendang ala Mama Mertua: Recipe
Ingredients:
1 kg beef ( I bought the diced beef from Jabal halal market)
3 cans of Coconut Cream - not milk( my ma in law said the Samoa brand is best)
Olive oil (enough amount as if you are going to stir fry the beef)
To put in blender:
250 grams of birdseye chilli (4 table spoon)
1 whole nutmeg (grind it)
5 whole cloves (grind it with the nutmeg)
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
2 tablespoons of corriander (I used powdered corriander)
1 tablespoons of curry powder (my ma in law brought this from Jakarta, it says 'bumbu kambing')
Ginger (as big as an average Indonesian woman's big toe LOL)
Galangal (1.5 times an average Indonesian woman's big toe )
2 brown onions
5 cloves of garlic
A little bit of water
Not in blender:
Kaffir lime leaves - about 6
Bay leaves - about 5
Lemongrass - a stalk or two
Tumeric leaaves - I didn't have this so I left it out
Method:
1. Put all spices in a blender, add a little bit of water at a time and grind it until it reached a consistency of a curry paste. I must have added about 50 - 100 ml of water to get the blender going.
2. In large saucepan, heat up the olive oil. Insert the blended spices and the beef. Add lemongrass, bay leaves, lime leaves and turmeric leaves. Cook until the beef is a little tender
3. Once the beef is a little tender (this takes a while), add the coconut cream, and continue stirring until the coconut cream dries out and the colour turns dark brown (this takes ages!)
4. If you want to make the coconut seems drier, transfer the whole thing into the microwave and heat for 8 minutes ( I didn't do this).
Suitable for freezing.
