I'm bringing you this slow cooker beef rendang that's famous in Southeast Asia countries, especially my home country, Malaysia.
I developed this slow cooker version of this delicious rendang because I wanted it to be more doable and easier to make for everybody, compared to the laborious traditional way.
This simplified recipe still preserves the amazing essence of a great rendang, you will love it!
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Recipe Highlights
Texture and flavour - Tender beef in creamy curry sauce with a wonderful citrusy flavour and a touch of heat. Rendang curries have a significant amount of lemongrass that lends the citrusy touch.
Level - Very easy, the slow cooker will do all (well almost) of the work!
Size - Perfect for 6.
Occasion - Whenever you want, really. Great idea for Asian theme parties or gatherings, your guests will be impressed.
Why This Recipe?
Because this recipe will enable you to enjoy delicious beef rendang without slaving yourself to make it or going crazy looking for difficult-to-get ingredients. Sounds good? Of course!
Still preserving the essences of amazing rendang, this recipe however is simplified in 2 ways:
- easier-to-get ingredients - no need to go crazy or deprive yourself of rendang just because you don't have galangal or coconut paste.
- easier cooking method - equally delicious like a traditional way of cooking beef rendang but this simplified way you don't no need to baby-sit your rendang for hours, it will cook itself *wink!*
I also have a slow cooker chicken rendang, which is slightly different in the sense of the number of spices used and also cooking time. It's super yum!
Lets Talk Ingredients
Beef - try to choose a cut that's not too lean or fatty. Think of meat cut for beef stew. Chuck is the best although you could also use meat stew (sometimes could be a tad lean and might need more cooking time).
Lemongrass - The most important ingredient. It differentiates rendang from other curries because rendang uses lots of lemongrass, thus resulting in a curry that's more citrusy. You can find lemongrass in the fresh or frozen section in Asian stores. There's also lemongrass paste. Use ¼ to ⅓ cup, be mindful of the salt as the paste usually comes salty.
SUBSTITUTION: Although it won't exactly be the same you could use:
- 2-3 lemon zest
- 3-4 lime zest
Add together with coconut milk mixture.
Curry powder - I use mild curry powder. Use madras curry powder if you like it hotter.
Cayenne pepper powder - Just for the heat. Skip or adjust to your liking.
Keffir lime and turmeric leaves - They add that citrusy hint and wonderful aromatic to rendang. You can find them mostly in the frozen section in Asian stores but if you're lucky, maybe they're available in the fresh section also.
SUBSTITUTION: Again, although it's not the same but lime or lemon zest would work. Add ½ lime or 1 lemon zest together with the coconut mixture. No need to add it if you're already using zest to substitute lemongrass.
Do This To Make It Super Tasty
Spend 10 minutes to sautee the base, you will not regret it. Trust me on this.
I know you might be tempted to just dump everything inside the pot but don't because you'll be lacking that umph kick. I know because I did dump everything inside, and yeah.. no you don't want to do that.
If you want to make this, make it good. Right?
How To Serve
With whatever your heart desires. Think of something that can soak up the sauce and carry the amazing flavours.
Any type of rice, quinoa, any type of bread. Do you get me? Good!
In our family, we just love to have it with steamed glutinous rice. It could be just steamed plain or with turmeric.
More Curry Recipes
- Best Punjabi chicken curry
- Quick 30-minute Thai massaman curry
- Baked chicken curry puff
- Easy homemade chickpea curry with spinach
- 30-minute vegan lentil coconut curry
Recipe Video
📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Beef Rendang Curry
Equipment
Ingredients
The Paste
- 6 lemongrass, the white part , thinly sliced
- 1 onion , roughly chopped
- 2 inch ginger , roughly chopped
- 6 garlic cloves
Spices
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 4 cardamom pods
- 4 cloves
- ¼ cup curry powder (25 g)
- ½ tablespoon cayenne pepper powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
The Main
- ½ cup water (125 ml)
- 2 tablespoon coconut sugar
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 4 turmeric leaves , thinly sliced
- 10 kefir lime leaves , thinly slices
- 2.2 lb beef chuck (1 kg), cut into 2 inch (5 cm) pieces
Seasoning And Thickening
- 1 cup coconut milk (250 ml)
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- ½ lime , squeeze the juice
Instructions
The Base
- Blend all the paste ingredients in a grinder into a fine paste. Use a splash of water if needed to help the blending process. You might need to do this is batches, depending on how big your grinder is. Set aside.
- We'll start with the spices ingredients. Heat a pan on medium heat with some oil. Add in bruised cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamoms and star anise. Cook until the spices release their fragrances.
- Add in the rest of the spices ingredients together with the blended paste and continue cooking for 10 minutes, until the paste becomes thick. Stir now and then.
Cooking
- Spray the inside of the slow cooker pot with some oil. Add in cooked base and the all of the main ingredients except meat. Mix everything well. Now add in the meat and coat the pieces well with the mixture.
- Close the lid. Cook on high setting for 4 hours. Gently give everything a mix with a spatula after 2 hours.
Seasoning And Thickening
- Add coconut milk and corn starch into a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
- Remove the slow cooker lid. Pour the coconut milk mixture into the pot together followed by lime juice. Gently mix everything well. Continue cooking for another 20-30 minutes on high setting without the lid, until the sauce thickens. Adjust seasonings if needed. Serve with some steamed glutinous rice or white rice. Enjoy!
Peter Riesz says
This looks amazing! I'm about to give it a go. I'm in Barcelona and I see your living in Spain so I have to ask where do you find tumeric leaves, fresh kafir lime leaves or fresh lemon grass? I love these flavours but I have to suffice with dried karif lime leaves, frozen lemon grass and couldn't even find tumeric leaves.
Bea says
Hi Peter, the turmeric leaves I planted myself. Once I bought the turmeric roots in Makro and planted them to get the leaves. I also bought in Makro the fresh kafir lime leaves and lemongrass. I have also 2 plants of lemongrass, they are easy to keep. But if Makro is not an option for you, the frozen versions will do, I use them all the time too when I ran out of fresh ones.
Lina Hassan says
Hello Bea,
I just want to say thank you to you for this rendang recipe. I made it for our Aidilfitri celebration recently and my parents loved it so much.
It was my first time cooking rendang in a slow cook. 1 thing I changed was adding more cili powder because our family loves spicy.
Bea says
Hi Lina! I'm excited to know that you gave it a try and your family liked it. Yes, adjust the spiciness to your liking, no problem at all. Do check out more simplified Asian recipes here if you're interested. Thank you so much for your feedback! ❤️🙌