Work in progress

Rendang is an old dish from the Minangkabau kingdom of Sumatra. Many people consider it a curry, but in fact it's different in many respects.

Daging lembu is Malay or Indonesian for “beef”.

Rendang predates the European discovery of Sumatra, of course, so the original didn't use any chilis, which come from America. Instead, it used black pepper. I've been trying to find documentation on the relative use of pepper and chili, so far without any conclusions.

My first attempt at cooking a rendang with pepper, based on a recipe taken from ”Makanan Lazim Malaysia” (Vista Productions Ltd., Singapore, 1980), was not a success. I've decided that black pepper is not appropriate: it makes the dish too bitter. Watch this space for an improvement.

On 9 August 2020 I made a version with Dollee rendang paste.