Rendang - It is a dry type of curry. The chicken is cooked in coconut milk flavored with spices and begins to brown when most of the liquid cooks away, creating a beautifully caramelized exterior. It is so rich in flavors and spices that you will never have enough once it’s cooked. The smell and taste of Rendang are distinctive for all Malaysians – it is one of our national dishes and our pride.

It can simply be eaten with steamed rice, 'lemang' or 'ketupat'. Lemang is glutinous rice cooked in bamboo tubes while ketupat is compressed rice cake. Hari Raya Aidilfitri is one of the biggest celebrations in Malaysia. Normally when Hari Raya comes - lemang, ketupat and rendang are one of the main dishes served to the visiting guests. I love making chicken rendang at home. Even it takes some time to prep, the end result is so rewarding.

Most of them feel the process of cooking Rendang is a complicated process. Actually, it isn't. It is an easy process where it only requires ingredients such as lemongrass, ginger, onion, shallots, garlic, chili, dried chilies and etc.

THE RECIPE.

Ingredients.

3 onions
3 shallots
3 cloves garlic
2cm ginger
4 stalks lemongrass
5 tbs red chili paste
25 birds eye's Chilies (add-on for spicier)
1 small packet Kerisik
200ml coconut milk
1.5kg chicken (cut into bite size)
1/2 tbs turmeric powder / 2cm turmeric
sugar, to taste
salt, to taste

Directions.

1. Firstly, wash the onion, shallot, ginger, garlic, and lemongrass and then cut them into smaller pieces. Place all the cut spices and birds eye's chilies into a blender with a little water added. Blend into a coarse paste.
   
   

2. Add cooking oil into a heated wok over medium-low heat and saute the blended spice paste.
   

3. Continue to saute for about 5 to 10 minutes until aromatic.
   

4. Add the chili paste, turmeric powder, sugar, and salt together then continue to saute until the oil begins to separate from the paste and the paste has darkened considerably.
   
   

5. At this point, add the coconut milk and chicken pieces. Stir fry the chicken with the aromatic spice paste until the skin begins to brown slightly and all the chicken has been well coated with the spice. Then lower heat to low and leave to simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Stir constantly to make sure everything is cooked evenly and does not stick to the bottom of the wok. After 30 minutes, add kerisik and stir well to incorporate into the chicken rendang gravy. Continue to cook for another 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked and tender and the gravy is thick and reduced.
   

Okay, we're done!

That's all for today guys. See you! (^^;)/