Slow Cooker Beef Rendang, my take on the classic Southeast Asian beef curry cooked in spiced coconut milk until it becomes so tender, it almost melts in the mouth. The dish is bursting with wonderful flavours coming from the lemongrass, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, and has a fantastic spicy kick coming from the red chillies. Really easy to make, the best comfort food no matter the time of the year.
Summer might be knocking at the door, but a big bowl of comfort food can be enjoyed all year round, no matter how cold or hot it is outside.
And this incredibly delicious slow cooker beef rendang ticks all the boxes when it comes to hearty meals that soothe you like nothing else.
Rendang is a very popular dish across many countries in Southeast Asia. It's a rich, slow-cooked dry curry traditionally made with coconut milk and a spice paste, let to simmer until all the liquid evaporates and the meat absorbs all the flavours.
And while my this is not an authentic beef rendang, but rather my take on it, it's still wonderfully spiced and flavourful, and so tender. I served this dish with basmati rice, and we all loved it! Definitely a winner!
It can be cooked on the cooker too, a Dutch oven would work great, but the advantage of using a slow cooker is that you can set it and forget it, no need to worry about it until hours later when the magic already happened and your meal is ready.
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Note!
Go to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact quantities and detailed instructions!
Ingredients overview
- stewing beef - it's by far my flavourite meat to cook in the slow cooker - it's easily-available and affordable, and it cooks really well until tender - no need for an expensive cut
- coconut milk - use tinned coconut milk, rathern than the drinking coconut milk that coming in a carton. Always go for the full-fat one as it has more flavour and it's a lot richer than the ligh coconut milk
- lemongrass - I used dried lemongrass, as I couldn't find any fresh one at my local supermarket, but you can use fresh it you have any
- cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves - I used them whole, you can also grind them into a powder if you wish
- bay leaves - more traditional recipes call for kaffir lime leaves, but since I couldn't find any, I used bay leaves, and they work well
- onion, ginger and garlic - make a good base for the spice paste, you can use any onion you have around, I used red, but regular onion or shallots work too. Fresh garlic cloves can be swapped for garlic puree. I used ginger puree, but fresh ginger can be used too
- red chillies - feel free to use any other chillies you have around
- oil - for browning the beef, I used vegetable oil
- salt and pepper - to taste
- fresh coriander - or parsley
- tomato paste - for a sweet touch
Easy swaps
The stewing beef can be swapped for beef short ribs, I used them in the slow cooker before in my Slow Cooker Short Rib Chili and they cooked to perfection.
Or you can use beef brisket that will be shredded when cooked, it works wonderfully well in the slow cooker, my Slow Cooker Roast Beef was so good, and the rendang spices would work so well with brisket.
Step-by-step photos and intructions
- to make the paste, add the onion cut into chunks, garlic cloves, ginger puree and half of the lemongrass in a blender
- blitz until you get a paste
- heat up the oil in a large pan, add the beef chunks working in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan
- season with salt and pepper, and brown them
- remove the beef from the pan and repeat with the second batch
- in the same pan, add the onion paste, and cook it for 2 minutes to deglaze the pan and get extra flavour
- add the browned beef, cooked onion paste, the remaining lemongrass, cloves, cinnamon stick, star anise, cardamom pods, bay leaves, tomato paste and coconut milk to the slow cooker
- give everything a good mix, then cook them for 4 hours on high or 8 on low
- when the rendang is ready, garnish with chopped coriander
Expert tips
Authentic recipes call for more ingredients like galangal, kaffir lime leaves, tamarin paste and dried chillies. As I could not get hold of some of them, I either omitted them, or swap them for more easily-available ingredients.
If these are spices that you use often in your cooking, by all means, it's worth buying them for this dish and others, but otherwise, I don't really like buying pricey ingredients just to use once, and then leave them in the spice cupboard until the end of time.
The slow cooker will not completely evaporate all the liquid like cooking on a stovetop would, but I quite like it being a bit more saucy.
If you wish the curry to be completely dry, once the dish is ready in the slow cooker, you can transfer it to a pan set over a medium to high heat to reduce the sauce to the desired consistency.
What to serve with beef rendang
Plain basmati rice is always my first choice, but you can also go for Turmeric Rice, Pilau Rice or Lebanese Rice.
Other stewing beef recipes
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Slow Cooker Beef Rendang
Ingredients
- 750 g stewing / braising beef (1. 65 pounds)
- 1 tin full-fat coconut milk ( 400 ml, 13 oz)
- 1 red onion
- 5 stalks dry lemongrass
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon ginger puree
- 1 star anise
- 5 cloves
- 5 cardamom pods
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 red chillies
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
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Instructions
- Peel the garlic and onion, and cut the onion in chunks.
- Add them to a blender together with 2 lemongrass stalks, 1 red chilli, deseeded, and the ginger puree.
- Blitz to a paste.
- Heat up the oil in a large pan, and add the beek chunks working in batches to avoid overcrowding.
- Season the beef with salt and pepper, and brown on both sides.
- Remove the beef from the pan and repeat with the second batch.
- When all the beef is removed, add the onion paste to the pan, and quickly fry it for 2-3 minutes to deglaze the pan and caramelise the paste.
- Add the browned beef, caramelised paste, coconut milk, bay leaves, tomato paste, cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick, seeded chopped red chilli, star anise and the 3 lemongrass stalks left to the slow cooker.
- Place the lid on the cook it on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.
- When it's ready, garnish it with chopped coriander.
Video
Notes
- The slow cooker will not completely evaporate all the liquid like cooking on a stovetop would, but I quite like it being a bit more saucy.
- If you wish the curry to be completely dry, once the dish is ready in the slow cooker, you can transfer it to a pan set over a medium to high heat to reduce the sauce to the desired consistency.
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