Beef Rendang - An Indonesian Spicy Meat Dish

The other day, I had some leftover grated coconut and thought to utilize it in a spicy meat dish called Rendang. I chose to use beef because my husband enjoys the tenderness of the beef after the hours of simmering. This aromatic dish tastes amazing with fragrant jasmine rice! 

The Beef Rendang I prepared.
Looks and tastes like the ones we order in the restaurants!

Nowadays, we are truly lucky to enjoy the convenience of instant sauces, and they actually taste as good as the ones you eat in restaurants! For the sauce, I chose Mak Nonya brand. I got it for a couple of dollars from the supermarket, and all you need to add are water, your choice of meat, grated coconut and coconut milk. If you can't find this brand, I think you can try other brands available, to see if it works out well. After all, cooking is all about experimenting and learning! The steps below will give you an idea of what you need to do if you use an instant Rendang sauce. 

Ingredients:
Onion, Lemongrass, Chilli, Spices, Ginger, Sugar,
Galangal, Salt & Edible Oil (Palm oil)

You will need:

• 1.2 kg meat of your choice. (I used beef chuck tender, cubed into 1 inch size)
• 300 ml water
• 300 ml coconut milk (you can use a little more if you prefer it thicker)
• 100 g toasted coconut shreds

Step 1. Toast the grated coconut over a non-stick frying pan. Be careful with the heat, use a medium to low fire, and stir the coconut around to prevent it from burning. Once it starts to release a lovely toasted aroma, and starts to brown a little, you can remove from heat. Set aside. You will use this at the last step.

Use low to medium heat.
Keep stirring the coconut to prevent burning.

Lightly browned grated coconut.

Step 2. Brown the sides of cubed beef (around 1 inch in size) in oil.

Step 3. Add the instant sauce and stir to coat the beef with the sauce, and fry until aromatic. Then add in the water and coconut milk, ensuring it's enough to cover beef. I simmered it for around 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally, until the meat is super tender and the sauce thickens.

Step 4. Lastly, add the toasted coconut shreds from Step 1. The grated coconut should absorb most of the gravy, until your dish looks like this:

So there! Really simple and worthwhile to try this dish, especially with the convenience of instant sauces. Just add in a few touches of your own, and you get to enjoy this in the comfort of your own home! 

Green Pea Cookies

During Chinese New Year this year, I discovered this craze about Green Pea Cookies, and I had heard a few friends raving about them. I just had to try baking some! I think there are a few variations of Green Pea Cookies, but this recipe I'm going to share is really easy, even my three-year old daughter had fun helping me!

What you need:
- 160g roasted green peas
- 40g icing sugar (you can use more if you like it sweeter)
- 180g self-raising flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 100ml vegetable oil
Yields about 38 cookies

Ingredients at a glance.

Step 1. Grind the green peas into fine powder and sift into a bowl. Toss away the large bits left behind.

Sift the ground green peas into a bowl.

 Step 2. Pour the sifted green pea powder into a large bowl with the self-raising flour and sugar.

Pour the sifted green pea powder into flour and sugar.

 Step 3. Mix the green pea powder, flour and sugar well.

Mix well.

 Step 4. Pour the oil plus vanilla essence into the flour, sugar and green pea mixture. Pour 2/3 first and slowly add more oil until a dough forms. The final cookie dough should not stick to your hands.

Pour oil into the green pea mixture.

Final cookie dough before shaping and baking.

 Step 5. Shape into 1-inch circles (about 0.5cm thickness) and bake at 170 degrees Celsius for 10-15 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes on cooling rack. Enjoy!

There you go, a really easy but yummy cookie recipe! Hope you will enjoy baking them as much as I did!

Welcoming the Chinese New Year!

My Mother's Old Recipe Book. A true inspiration for me! 

Chinese New Year is just round the corner, and there is nothing better than baking CNY goodies for loved ones and friends! Pineapple tarts are always a favourite, and the aroma of these freshly baked golden treats are simply invigorating! I love to see the joy of people eating together as a family or sharing a delicious meal with close friends. Seeing others happy truly makes me contented! Through the inspiration of my beloved mother, I am writing this blog to share delicious recipes that may benefit others, to cook up lovely dishes to share with their loved ones as well!

To start off, here's a simple recipe for lovely melt-in-your-mouth pineapple tarts!

Ingredients:
- 450g unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)
- 150g sugar powder / icing sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 6tbsp milk powder (full cream)
- 650g all purpose flour
- 1kg pineapple paste, rolled into 1.5cm diameter balls

As a busy mother of an active toddler, I used pre-made pineapple paste. Perhaps one day I will attempt the challenge of making my own!

Method:
1. In a large mixing bowl, mix sugar and eggs till pale yellow.
2. Then, add in milk powder to the mixture and stir well till fully dissolved.
3. Gradually add softened butter into the above mixture and cream until smooth.
4. Add about 1/3 of flour into the butter mixture and mix till incorporated. Repeat with another 1/3 of flour. The remaining amount of flour can be added slowly until it becomes a ball of dough. Stop adding flour when the dough doesn't stick to your hands.
5. Chill for half an hour in fridge.
6. Take dough out and portion into around 2cm balls and flatten to create space for pineapple paste filling. Use just enough to cover the paste.
7. Place on baking sheet and apply egg wash for glaze effect.
8. Bake for 30 minutes at 160 deg C.

So there you go! Really simple yet really good. Do feel free to share any comments or tips with me! And do check back again for other yummy recipes!