• Capital: Kuala Lumpur
• Population: about 30 million
• Area:  330 803 km²
• Currency: Malaysian ringgit

For my Malay dish I made beef Rendang. Beef Rendand is a beef dry curry with coconut, lemongrass, red chilis and a lot of spices. I also made a spicy sauce called sambal oelek. The curry was extremely flavorful and not like any other curry I’ve ever had. Here is the recipe!

Beef rendang

Ingredients:

• 3/4 coconut powder
• 15 dried chilies
• 10 shallots
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 inch galangal
• 1 inch turmeric
• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 1 pound beef sirloin
• 1 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup water
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• juice of half a lime

Directions:

First prepare all the ingredients. Cut the dried chilis in half inch pieces with scissors and soak them in water.

Peel the galangal, the turmeric, the ginger, the garlic and the shallots. Remove the green part of the lemongrass and cut it in small slices. Measure the coconut powder and the coconut milk. Cut the meat in 1/2 inch slices.

Take the chilis out of the water and discard all the seeds that came out of the peppers.

In a blender, blend the shallots, galangal, turmeric, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, chilis and 1/2 cup of water into a paste.

Put the spices paste, the coconut milk, the beef and 1 cup of water in a wok. Bring to a boil and let simmer on medium/low heat for about 2 hours or until most of the liquid is evaporated. You should be left with some thick liquid. Make sure you stir often toward the end to avoid burning.

While the meat is cooking, in a pan dry roast the coconut powder until golden brown.

After 2 hours of cooking the meat, add the roasted coconut powder, the chopped kaffir lime leaves, the lime juice, the salt and the sugar. Cook another 5 minutes and adjust salt to taste.

Serve with rice.

Sambal oelek

Ingredients:

• 50g dried red chili
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 1 inch piece of lemongrass
• 30g sugar
• 20ml white wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon lime zest

Directions:

Blend all the chilis, the garlic, the ginger, the lemongrass and the vinegar together. Add water until you obtain a liquid paste.

Put the mixture in a pan and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add salt to taste and lemon zests.

Careful this is very spicy!

Cool down and bottle up in small jars. Store in the fridge.

Selamat menjamu selera!