Cooking rendang with the celebs

Rendang Tok

Malaysian celebrities reveal their rendang recipes for Hari Raya.

Granny’s way

Singer/actor Datuk Fazley Yaakob is very proud of his family’s rendang recipe, which has been passed down from generation to generation. According to him, his grandmother’s rendang is the best in Negri Sembilan.

Fazley Yaakob will be cooking rendang on the eve of Hari Raya.

“Whenever one of us cooks the rendang, she will taste it and tell us what she thinks, which is quite nerve-racking,” shares Fazley, who won the MasterChef Selebriti Malaysia (Malaysian Celebrity MasterChef) last year.

And what does the grand dame – Khamsiah Hamzah, 85 – say about the rendang her grandson prepares?

“She’s always happy with what I have cooked,” Fazley says with a laugh.

Her recipe uses a lot of shallots, a fair amount of cili padi (“it’s spicier than other rendang”) and the ground coconut is fried in oil. Beef liver and spleen are also thrown into the mix.

“We drain the beef of moisture by frying it first. Also, for it to be authentic, it must be cooked on a wood-fire stove.”

For Hari Raya, the family cooks 20kg of beef in Fazley’s backyard – either a day or 12 hours before the Raya morning.

“And the best thing about this rendang is, it gets tastier every time it is heated up.”

Fazley Yaakob’s Beef Rendang

Dry spices

• 20g sweet cumin (jintan manis)
• 20g fennel (jintan putih)
• 20g coriander
• 2 pieces star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick

Roast in a pan without any oil, and blend together until fine.

Wet spices

• 2 stalks fresh lemongrass
• 1 handful cili padi, discard stems
• 1 whole garlic
• 1 thumb-sized piece of galangal, diced
• 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh turmeric

Blend all the ingredients with a little water.

Other ingredients

• 15 small red onions (blended)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise
• 3 cloves
• 1 big spoon blended chilli
• 200 g meat (cut into small cubes or bite-size pieces)
• ½ cup tamarind water (air asam jawa)
• 1½-2 packs coconut milk
• ½ pack desiccated coconut (kerisik)
• Brown sugar
• Salt to taste

Heat oil in the pot. Add the cinnamon, star anise and cloves. When fragrant, fry half the onions. Add the other half to the wet spice mix.

Add the blended chilli, dried spices and wet spices to the pot.

When the oil separates, add the meat and stir to coat with the spice mixture. Add tamarind water. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.

Add the coconut milk and cook until the meat is tender. Add the kerisik, salt and brown sugar. If desired, keep cooking until the gravy is dry and the meat turns a medium or dark brown. Remember to keep stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot!

Serve hot with rice or toasted baguettes.

From drab to dishy

Chef Riz was 10 years old when he first attempted to make his mother’s rendang. At 32, he has collected a variety of rendang recipes from different states but his mother’s recipe – which originates in Malacca – remains his favourite.

Chef Riz thinks his mother makes the best rendang.

“Another favourite rendang of mine is from Negri Sembilan, which also comes from my mother’s side of the family.

“I like to eat rendang,” he says on why he tried his hand at the dish at such an early age. “I like how it’s transformed from an unattractive dish – because it starts out looking pale and watery – and as you cook it, in those two hours, the appearance changes as the spices all come together and you have a dish that smells and tastes good.”

Rendang is a must-have dish whenever there is a family gathering or special occasion, says Chef Riz, whose father is Chef Wan. Since the whole family is made up of good cooks – and we all know what happens when there are too many cooks – who makes the rendang?

“My auntie, my father’s sister. Her rendang is the best.”

Chef Riz’s Rendang

• 2 chickens, cut into 12 pieces
• Milk from 6 coconuts
• ¼ cup kerisik*
• 1-2 tamarind skins (asam keping), optional
• 10 kaffir lime leaves or 1 turmeric leaf

Paste (blend together)

• 10 cili padi
• 10 dried chillies
• 10 shallots
• 10 cloves garlic
• A thumb-sized piece of ginger
• A thumb-sized piece of galangal
• 2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh turmeric
• 10 stalks lemongrass

Put the paste, coconut milk, 1½ to two teaspoons of salt, the kerisik and the chicken into a pot (the pot has to be of good quality and with a thick base to ensure an even distribution of heat so the food doesn’t burn). Keep the fire low.

(Chef Riz likes to add tamarind skins as he finds that they provide a balance of flavour. However, his mother does not add them.)

Cook for two to 2½ hours, stirring from time to time.

(Chef Riz uses old chicken for rendang. If using spring chicken, cook the meat for 40 minutes, take it out and let the paste cook till it’s almost dry and then return the chicken to the pot.)

As the gravy thickens, add salt to taste.

Add the kaffir lime leaves or turmeric leaf (Chef Riz puts in both) and leave for three minutes before turning off the heat.

* Chef Riz says homemade kerisik is best. To make it, take one grated coconut and stir-fry in a dry pan on low to medium heat till it turns golden brown. Don’t let it burn. Blend or pound the kerisik until fine, as this will act as a thickening agent.

Hot and spicy

Singer/actor Erra Fazira depends on her mother, Azizah Zaik, to cook rendang as she finds making this particular dish a tad tiresome.

Erra Fazira jokes that her rendang doesn't always turn out well.

The good-natured and beautiful performer says: “When I was younger I used to help her in the kitchen when she made it, nowadays I just buy the ingredients and she cooks it.”

Erra’s mother has three different recipes, which she got from friends and a recipe book, each with its own unique taste. However, she always ends up cooking Erra’s favourite.

“I like the one that is a little spicy,” she says of the rendang, which she describes as not too different from Rendang Tok.

“We only cook rendang once a year, during Hari Raya. So sometimes, it turns out delicious, sometimes not so much,” she shares with a chuckle.

Azizah Zaik’s Rendang

• 1 chicken, cut into pieces
• 2 small packets kurma/2 tbsp curry spices
• ¼ cup kerisik
• 4 cups coconut milk
• Salt to taste
• Gula Melaka to taste
• 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
• 4 kaffir lime leaves, coarsely cut
• 2 turmeric leaves, finely cut

Ingredients to grind

• 10 red onions
• 4 shallots
• 15 cili padi
• 15 dried chillies
• 2cm ginger
• 2cm galangal
• 1cm fresh turmeric

Fry the ground ingredients with lemongrass until fragrant.

Put in the kurma spices and fry some more.

Put in the coconut milk and kerisik. Mix well.

Put in the chicken.

Put in the turmeric leaves, lime leaves, salt and gula Melaka.

Cook until thick.

Cooking with heart

Sheila Rusly says cooking is very subjective, as taste buds differ from person to person. Hence, she changed her grandmother’s recipe just a little to suit her taste.

Sheila Rusly likes her rendang spicy.

“I prefer the rendang I cook to be spicier. I like spicy food,” she says over the phone, before sharing the recipe just from memory.

The actress, who has hosted a bunch of cooking shows, adds that she can’t give the exact amount of salt and sugar to put into her recipe as, again, that depends on how much a person likes and “I cook with my heart”. Nonetheless, her improvised recipe is a hit with her friends and family, especially during Hari Raya.

“Last year, I cooked seven chickens in one wok in the front garden of my brother-in-law’s house in Ipoh. It was this huge wok and in the kampung, we all cook lemang and ketupat the old-fashion way as well.”

Sheila Rusly’s Rendang Minang

• 1 chicken, cut into pieces
• 500g thick coconut milk
• 1 or 2 asam keping
• 6 turmeric leaves, finely chopped
• 5 kaffir lime leaves
• 2 tbsp kerisik
• 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
• Salt and sugar

Ingredients to blend

• 20 dried chillies
• 15 to 20 cili padi
• 7 shallots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 8cm ginger
• 5cm fresh turmeric
• 2cm galangal
• 6 stalks lemongrass

Fry the bruised lemongrass in oil, then put in the blended ingredients. When the colour has changed – and the blended ingredients are a bit garing (crisp; though not too much), put in the chicken and the coconut milk (if the milk is too thick, add water, though not too much as the chicken will excrete liquids).

After a while, put in the lime leaves (just tear and throw in) and the asam keping.

A little while later, put in the turmeric leaves and kerisik. Wait till the gravy is thick, then add in salt and sugar to taste.