In January, I welcomed my baby girl Maxine into the world; she has now become a highly skilled sleep thief throughout the week. Sundays have become my family day for both Maxine and my very supportive wife Kate where we try and live life slow. First task in the morning is a briefing on the day with my wife, she often shakes her head when my first question is what do you want for dinner? This is my day to prepare a large meal for us to eat together, and leave her set up with something delicious and easy to reheat over the next few days.
I normally have a rotation of Sunday meals: lasagne, bacon and egg pie, homemade pizza or rendang. The rendang is my favourite as once it is in the oven, it's just a waiting game. The aroma that permeates through the house while it's cooking is comforting - and this just gets better the second and third day.
Why have you chosen to share this dish?
It's one of my favourite dishes to make on a Sunday as it takes a little time but the end result is totally worth it - a flavour bomb. I make a large recipe so my wife has her dinner ready to go for a couple of nights while she looks after Maxine.
I remove the short-rib bone three-quarters of the way through cooking while the meat breaks down, and then serve the meat on the bone. This then becomes our cutlery - I just enjoy eating it off the bone.
Photo / Brett Phibbs
Beef short rib rendang
Short-rib 1kg beef short-rib, or beef brisket 1 Tbsp coconut oil (canola oil is okay to substitute) Base paste 150g shallots (around 6 shallots) 30g red chillis, seeds removed (around 4 chillis) 20g garlic cloves (around 5 cloves) 50g galangal (available in the freezer at most Asian supermarkets) 50g ginger, peeled 10g fresh turmeric ½ tsp ground cloves 2 tsp ground allspice, sometimes called pimento spice Braising liquid 2 x 400g tins of coconut milk 30g shredded coconut 3 lemongrass stalks 2 cinnamon quills 3 makrut lime leaves, finely shredded 120g dark palm sugar (brown sugar or coconut sugar can substitute) 2 tsp salt
1. Preheat the oven to 160C
2. To make the base paste, blend all the ingredients together until a smooth paste is formed, I use a little of the coconut milk from the braising liquid to aid the blender
3. Slice the short-rib into individual ribs or cut the brisket into bite-sized pieces. Heat the coconut oil and sear the ribs or brisket on medium-high heat until caramelised, transfer to an ovenproof dish.
4. Coat the seared meat with the paste and allow to infuse for 30 minutes. Add the ingredients for the braising liquid to the oven dish and stir gently to incorporate, the ovenproof dish should be just big enough to hold the meat and the liquid, if needed add up to 1 cup of water to cover the meat.
5. Place the dish, uncovered, into the oven. After 1 hour, stir the rendang or turn the short-rib over; after 2 hours gently remove the bone from the short-rib and set aside. For the third hour check the rendang every 20 minutes; the fat will have come out from the coconut and the rending will start to fry in its own liquid. Remove from the oven and gently press the meat with a wooden spoon, it should be just starting to fall apart.
6. Serve the rendang with jasmine or coconut jasmine rice (recipe below), fresh sliced cucumber and roti (available in the freezer at most Asian supermarkets)
Coconut rice
3 Tbsp coconut oil 1 onion thinly sliced 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced 1x 2cm piece of ginger peeled and thinly sliced 400g washed jasmine rice 2½ cups of water 1 pinch of blue butterfly pea powder (optional - but adds an amazing blue colour to the rice) 30g shredded coconut
1. In a saucepan over medium heat melt the coconut oil and fry the onion, garlic and ginger until softened. Add the rice, shredded coconut, blue pea flower powder and water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to very low and allow to cook for 10 minutes.
