Malay Recipes

Ingredients

Always use the freshest ingredients you can get hold of, this can really help give the food a fresh taste. Try to find authentic ingredients, this might involve hunting around specialist shops, sometimes a substitute is easily available, other times you really need the the real thing. Read about specific ingredients...

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Malaysian Beef Rendang

For the paste:

• Shallots - about 8
• Lemon Grass - 2 stalks
• Galangal or ginger - 1 inch
• Garlic - 3 cloves
• Red Chillies - 15 for full strength to 3 for mild

For the dish:

• Coriander seeds - 2 tsp ground
• Fennel seeds - 2 tsp ground
• Cumin seeds - 2 tsp ground
• Nutmeg - 1 ground
• Vegetable oil - for frying
• Coconut - 2 cups freshly shredded
• Coconut milk- 1.5 cups
• Beef - cubed
• Palm sugar - 4 tsp
• Cloves - 6 whole
• Cinammon or Cassia bark - 1 stick
• Salt - to taste

Method:

• Grind the paste ingredients in a pestle and mortar or a food processor until they form a paste
• Dry fry and then grind the Coriander, cumin, nutmeg and fennel to a fine powder
• Fry the paste in the oil in a wok for a couple of minutes
• Add the ground spices and continue to fry
• Add the beef and coat it in the paste continuing to fry until it is brown
• Add the coconut, palm sugar, cloves and cinammon
• Simmer for up to an hour until it reaches the desired consitency
• Add the salt to taste

Malay-Indian Chicken Curry

• Star Anise - 3 whole
• Cloves - 4 whole
• Cinammon or Cassia bark - 1 stick
• Shallots - about 6 chopped
• Lemon Grass - 2 stalks roughly chopped
• Galangal or ginger - 1 inch
• Garlic - 4 cloves
• Red Chillies - 2+ chopped
• Curry leaves - 4
• Curry powder - 2-3 tbsp to taste
• Chicken thighs, legs or breast
• Salt - to taste
• White Pepper - to taste
• Vegetable oil - for frying

Method:

• Fry the Star Anise, Cloves and Cinnamon in the oil for a couple of minutes
• Add the lemon grass, galangal and garlic and continue frying
• Add the shallots, chillies and the curry leaves continuing to fry
• Add the chicken and some water and simmer gently until the chicken is done and coming away from the bone
• Season to taste with salt and white pepper