Lamb rendang is an aromatic, citrussy and spicy dish of lamb slow-cooked in coconut milk, typically served with plain rice. Rendang is a signature dish from Peranakan cuisine, popular in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Follow this recipe to make the best lamb rendang ever!
Though beef and lamb are the more popular choices of meat for Rendang, water buffalo, goat, chicken, duck or offals (eg.liver) can be used as well. My favorite choice of meat for rendang are lamb and goat meat. Vegetarians can use tapioca, tender jackfruit, banana blossom or mushroom as substitutes for meat.
The meat melts in your mouth!
I look forward to every meal as long as I have lamb rendang in my fridge.
Super tender lamb with serious flavor.
– from some of our readers
Coconut and meat are a match made in heaven. If you haven’t tried it, you’re missing out! Some of my favorite Asian preparations of meat have coconut in them, like Beef Ularthiyathu from South India and this rendang from South-East Asia.
The Rendang Story
Rendang is said to have originated from the West Sumatra region of Indonesia. It was traditionally prepared by the Sumatran Minangkabau community on festive occasions like birthdays, marriages and Hari Raya. For those who don’t know, ‘Hari Raya’ is the name for ‘Eid’ in South East Asia.
Rendang was a blessing in the pre-refrigeration era. The ingredients and the cooking technique ensured that the dish was preserved for 3-4 weeks at room temperature! No wonder the Minangkabau merchants and traders took it with them on their journeys through the waterways of the famous ancient trade routes of South-East Asia! Historians say this is probably how the recipe spread across the region.
When you read the first sentence in this post, did you wonder what ‘Peranakan’ is? I was completely lost when I first came across this word in Singapore. Peranakans are the descendants of the early Chinese and Indian migrants who married the locals in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, and settled there. The marriage of cultures resulted in the blending of cooking styles and ingredients as well, giving rise to the Peranakan or Nonya cuisine. A whole new culture emerged – not just with respect to food. You can see Peranakan influence on furniture, clothing and religion as well.
Cooking Technique
If you ever taste rendang cooked from scratch, there will be no turning back! To prepare rendang, you need to make:
- a spice paste called ‘rempah‘
- a toasted coconut paste called ‘kerisik‘
- slow braise the meat in a gravy of coconut milk
As the dish gets cooked, it reaches a point when all of the coconut milk transforms into coconut oil. That’s when we know it is almost done. The meat is further cooked till the gravy thickens and dries. The end product is a dark brown semi-dry dish of meat that is so tender, juicy and exploding with flavours – spicy, citrussy, sweet, coconuty, rich! The house will be filled with an intoxicating aroma that’ll bring your housemates / family members to the kitchen. 😉
Traditionally, the rempah and kerisik were ground using a mortar or grinding stone. I was fascinated seeing this traditional grinding stone (batu giling) in the Peranakan Museum of Singapore because it looked a lot like the ‘arakallu’ used back in my place – Kerala! Oh and imagine my excitement when I found out that Kerisik is actually the ‘varatharacha thenga’ that we use in ‘theeyal’ (a traditional Kerala dish)! The similarities we find in traditions and cultures across the world never cease to amaze me. And come to think of it – ALL this was before the Internet age!
Exotic ingredients & Substitutes
This recipe uses some ingredients that are not commonly available outside South East Asia. However, don’t let that be in you way of trying this finger-licking delicious dish – I have substitutes for you!
- For those not familiar with Galangal, it looks a lot like ginger, but it isn’t – it has a sharper and spicier flavour than ginger. So, if you cannot get hold of galangal, try substituting it with a combination of ginger and pepper.
- If lemongrass isn’t available, use lime leaves, lemon zest or lemon juice – It will not give the exact same taste but it will be close.
- For chillies, I used ‘Chilli Padi’ which is Thai Chilli or Birds Eye Chilli which is a very hot variety of chilli. You can reduce the heat by using a less hot chilli but try to use one that is red in colour. You can also use dry red chillies after soaking them in water for some time.
How this recipe reduces cooking time
The long cooking time taken for Rendang is usually because the meat has to be cooked on low simmer for about 1 and half hours. I reduced this time by using a pressure cooker. It took around 6 minutes for 10 whistles using my pressure cooker, and then I reduced the gravy by cooking it open for about 25 minutes. So, yes y’all, the cooking time can be reduced – I managed to bring it down by an hour! 🙂
Apart from this, you can get Rendang curry paste and Kerisik from Asian supermarkets or grocery stores. You can skip some steps if you get one or both of them. If you are someone who likes making everything from scratch (like me 🙂 ), you can prepare the Rempah in advance. Make it in bulk, refrigerate it with some oil on top or freeze it into cubes using an ice tray. As for Kerisik, I found out recently that it can be refrigerated for 2 weeks or frozen for months. I am yet to try this.
Here is the recipe for Lamb Rendang cooked using a pressure cooker. Do try it, rate the recipe and drop your feedbacks in the comments section!
If you like this recipe, you may also like:
- Hawker-style Hainanese Chicken Rice
- Kerala-style Beef Fry with coconut bites
- Chinese Pork & Cabbage Dumplings
- Thai Fried Rice (Khao Pad)
Lamb Rendang (Pressure Cooker Method)
Ingredients
- 500 g Lamb cubes
- 5 tbsp Oil (I used Vegetable Oil)
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- 3 Cloves
- 3 Star Anise
- 2 Cardamom pods pounded
- 1 Lemongrass cut into 4′ pieces and pounded in a mortar
- 1 cup Coconut milk
- 1 1/2 tsp Tamarind paste
- 1 cup Water
- 5 Kaffir Lime Leaves finely sliced
- 1 tbsp Palm sugar
- Salt to taste
Kerisik (Toasted Coconut Paste)
- 1/2 cup Grated Coconut Fresh or Dessicated
Rempah (Spice Paste)
- 6 Shallots
- 6 Garlic cloves
- 1 Lemongrass only white part
- Juice from half a lime
- 5 Red Chillies (I used Chilli Padi / Thai chilli)
- 1 inch Galangal
- 1 inch Ginger
Instructions
- Heat a pan and add grated coconut. Toast it by stirring continuously on low-medium flame till the coconut turns to a dark shade of brown. Switch the flame off and keep aside to cool down. Then, grind it into a paste using a food processor. This paste is called 'Kerisik'.
- Blend and grind the Rempah ingredients in food processor till it turns into a paste-like consistency.
- Heat oil in the pressure cooker, and add cinnamon, cloves, star anise and cardomom pods. Stir and add the Rempah. Saute till the raw smell of spices is no more there.
- Then, add the lamb cubes and pounded lemongrass. Mix well.
- Add coconut milk, tamarind paste and water. Stir to mix well and leave to simmer on low-medium flame till the meat starts getting cooked. (You know it when you notice a change in colour and texture of the meat.) Stir occasionally to ensure the mixture is blended and doesn’t get burnt.
- Throw in Kaffir lime leaves. Then, add palm sugar, salt and the Kerisik that was prepared and kept aside. Stir to mix well.
- Close the pressure cooker. Cook on low flame for 10 whistles.
- Switch the flame off, and release the steam.
- Then, cook further with the lid off. You will see the coconut milk turning into oil.
- Continue cooking, stirring at intervals, till the gravy becomes dark brown in colour, dries up and the meat is soft and tender.
- Lamb Rendang is ready. Serve with plain rice.
Notes
- Rendang tastes better with time. So, it will taste even better if left overnight for the flavours to seep into the meat.
- Cooking time will vary depending on the quality of meat. Also, if choosing other meat or vegetables instead of lamb as the main ingredient of the Rendang, please adjust the cooking time accordingly. For example, chicken may get cooked fairly quicker than lamb.
Recipe adapted from Rasa Malaysia.
Rendang facts sources: Wikipedia, Michelin Guide Singapore
This post was originally published on 03 Nov 2017 and updated on 13 Jul 2020.
The meat melts in your mouth!
You made my day! 🙂
This is probably my favourite lamb recipe yet! Such an explosion of flavours!
Viji, I am very motivated to try this after reading your blog. I am by nature a survival cook. But your write up about its history made the recipe come alive for me. Really enjoyed that. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! 🙂 Glad to hear I inspired a survival cook! Do try it, and travel back in time 🙂
Hi Viji, now I have lemon grass and galangal with me. Any substitute for kefir leaves?
You can substitute kaffir lime leaves with a combination of bay leaf, lime zest and lemongrass.
Delicious and flavourful Rendang Vijitha… our family loves it too and I do land up making it once in a way.
Thank you Shailaja! Difficult to not love it, right? It’s one of our family favs! 🙂
I’ve never heard of this, but very interesting. A good technique to know, especially if it preserves the meat for so long! The lamb is melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
I know right! Such an interesting history! Before I lived in Singapore, I hadn’t heard of it either. Fell in love with the flavors of rendang the moment I tried it!
I have never heard of this dish, and I learned something new here. It sounds amazing and I just may have to buy the ingredients the next time I shop.
You must try it! I didn’t know anything about this dish before I lived in Singapore, but now it’s become a part of our family favorites. I love it so much I wanted to get more people to know about it and not miss out on this wonderful dish!
Super tender lamb with serious flavor. Thanks for the detailed history also! So interesting to know the origins of this dish.
Oh yes, soooo much flavor! I absolutely enjoy learning the stories behind regional dishes – they help me understand and appreciate different cultures. So, I feel like sharing snippets of the history with my readers 🙂 So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi if I make it with chicken what would be the cooking time and any other suggested changes to the recipe? Will make it this weekend!
Since chicken cooks much faster than lamb, you can skip using pressure cooker and instead, cook on a low simmer on stovetop for around 30 minutes, or till the gravy has dried up and the chicken is tender. If you want to use pressure cooker, I’d suggest doing it for a very short time – 1 or 2 whistles max, and then cooking it without lid so that the gravy dries up. You can follow the rest of the recipe as it is – only reduce quantity of water added to half of what’s added for lamb rendang. Chicken usually releases its own juices when cooked. 🙂
You can use any cut of chicken, but I find that thighs are most flavorful for this recipe. If using drumstick, make some deep cuts on the piece so that the flavors can seep in better. And if using boneless pieces, it may be nice to substitute water with chicken broth for added flavor. Hope you enjoy the rendang as much as I do! 🙂 I’d love to know how it turns out.
This looks spectacular!
What cut of lamb should I use? Would leg of lamb, diced into 1-2in cubes work?
Also, do you have instant pot pressure cooker times vs ‘whistle’?
Hi Rhea, so sorry I missed your comment! Yes, lamb leg, and shoulder would work. If your supermarket has packed stew cuts, that works too. No, I haven’t tried this recipe using an instant pot yet.