FoodBite: Beef Renda’ang

Technically, I am not a chef and don’t have any professional culinary backgrounds either, so everything you will see in this blog is relatively personal from my own style of cooking, reinvention, and approach. My aim is to cater the recipes I think is worth sharing to inspire people who have the same passion for food and the love for cooking, basically, these are the highlights of my food articles that will bulge out from your computer screens or newsfeeds.

I’d been cooking since I was in high school, from the basic of frying and conventional soup-based recipes I have acquired from reading local cookbooks and looking up at Del Monte Kitchenomics recipes from my aunt’s monthly subscription pile. The kind of artistry on food serving I’ve seen on various cookbooks became an inspiration and at the same time a challenge for me to do the same (or my personal version, if not the exact) recipes one day. And as time progresses, I’ve learned to cook lots of good stuff and invented some signature recipes I will share on this blog, eventually.  

So first thing food recipe feature, here’s my version of Beef Renda’ang, an authentic Indonesian cuisine which I tasted years ago in Doha (Qatar) and my second attempt to cook it here in Jeddah. Beef Renda’ang is literally a spicy dish, I didn’t quite enjoy the first time I tasted the dish but its distinct taste has got me, so I attempted to cook it for the first time, I’ve reduced the use of chilli pepper and added a little modification on the taste by putting fresh tomatoes, onions and tomato paste.

The original Rendang recipe has a lot of spices added in it which are often hard to find in the market, mine is the affordable and easy-to-cook sautéed version.

Here are my ingredients: Lean Beef, Tomato Paste, Coconut Milk, Ginger (not shown in the picture), Lemon, Garlic, Onion, Chilli Pepper, Bell Pepper, fresh Tomatoes, Black Ground Pepper, Peppercorn, Salt, Sugar.

Here’s how I do it: Marinate beef in lemon juice and crushed garlic for 30minutes. Cut the beef in desired length and thickness. Bring to boil, add peppercorn and thinly cut inch-long fresh ginger, let it simmer with constant stirring ‘till half tender. Add coconut milk and spoonful of ground pepper, simmer for 25~30minutes with constant stirring, it’s done when desired tenderness is achieved and coconut milk is fully absorbed by the meat, but it shouldn’t be too dry. Set aside and let it cool for at least an hour. Pre-heat a large pan (it’s better to use the non-stick type), add cooking oil (any type), fry bell pepper for a minute, set aside. Sauté chilli pepper (spiciness will depend on the kind of chilli pepper you will use, and the amount as desired), add diced onion, diced tomato (should not overcooked), 5~6 tablespoon tomato paste, and add the pre-cooked beef, add salt and sugar to taste. Let the excess liquid evaporate. Stirring should be constant in a medium to high fire setting. Add fried bell pepper and serve hot. There is no exact measurement I specified, but I estimated the ingredients based on 1kg fresh beef.

And here’s my finished product: It‘s best served with steamed rice or as pulutan.


There are two serving types of Beef Renda’ang, one is wet and the other one is dry, but I still prefer the dry-zesty one. Occasionally, you can also try Chicken, Pork, and Pork/Beef Liver Renda’ang. I have not tried one of these but I look forward to do a pork version one time.