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Monday, August 20, 2012

Recipe: Chef Ismail's Ayam Rendang Rembau

Chef Dato' Ismail shares with us his recipe for ayam rendang Rembau, a dish originating from his hometown, Rembau in Negeri Sembilan.

Chef Ismail tells us that the original, authentic ayam rendang Rembau is very spicy. For the original recipe, you need 200g red bird eye chillies (cili padi), but you may want to reduce it to 65g (he used 65g when he prepared the rendang for us in the cooking demo and the spiciness level was just nice for me).

For this dish, it is best to use ayam kampung since the meat has more resistance. If using other type of chicken, you may want to remove the chicken after 45 minutes or the meat may disintegrate into the sauce. Thicken the sauce, and then only put the chicken back 10 minutes before serving.



This recipe can also be substituted with beef. If using beef, choose a cut with more resistance such as topside.




Ayam Rendang Rembau
Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Serves 10


Ingredients (A)
1.5 kg chicken, cut into 16 pieces
1.5kg thick coconut milk (santan)
2 tsp turmeric powder
3 stalks lemongrass, crushed and shredded
60g cili boh
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tbsp QBB Ghee (can be substituted with 1 tbsp of cooking oil)

Ingredients (B)
Blended spices (the equivalent of 1 tbsp marsala powder)
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 cardamom
3 cloves
1/2 inch cinnamon
1 star anise, seeds removed

Ingredients (C)
Blended ingredients
200g red bird eye chillies (you can reduce this if you do not like it too spicy - start with 65g)
4-5cm turmeric
4 cloves garlic
3 shallots


1. Firstly, place all spices in Ingredients (B) in a frying pan and lightly toast for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Then place in blender and blend until fine, then sift.

2. Place Ingredients (C) in a blender with some water and blend until you get a paste.

3. In a large wok, heat ghee / oil and saute the blended spices until fragrant. Add the blended ingredients (paste) and stir well.

4. Add chicken, lemongrass, cili boh, and turmeric powder. Stir until well combined and dry.

5. Stir in coconut milk and cook over medium low heat until sauce is thick. This will take approximately 1 1/2 hours - 2 hours. If you're not using a non-stick wok, you will need to give this a stir to avoid the sauce from sticking to the pan. Season with salt.

6. Serve warm with rice.


*This post was featured on Asian Food Channel's Facebook page on 21 August 2012.

25 comments:

  1. Please make me some... rendang is my favorite.

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    1. I'm planning to make beef rendang soon. Need to find more ppl to eat it after I cook it. LOL.

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  2. I love rendangs. AM going to give this a try. Not cooked rendang for the longest time...

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    1. It looks quite laborious, even during the cooking demo. Am gonna make a very big pot so it can last me like forever. Hehe.

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  3. Gosh!!! The long lists of ingredients... Not my kind of cooking, I'm afraid. I'm soooo lazy! LOL!!!

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    1. Hahahaha the blended spices are basically marsala powder, and the blended ingredients is super spicy cili giling. I guess you could use store bought if blending it looks intimidating.

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  4. good stuff. would looove to have a try of this! preferably with beef since that's my rendang meat of choice! :)

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  5. I love curry! Especially during rainy or cold weather, eat with warm rice, so nice! :D

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    1. Hehe I know who to pass some to after I make. But you dont eat beef, right? :(

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    2. Yaloh, I don't really eat beef, but Mr Mah does. :D

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  6. equal amounts of santan and chicken?? hmm thats almost 5 tins of coconut milk! unfortunately i will have to stock up on a lot of spices to make this dish so i think i might have to resort to ready made packet sauce if im craving for some.

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    1. Yeah I was shocked to see how much santan he used, but he used a lot of santan in all his cooking. That's why it's so creamy and rich and YUMMY!

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  7. Wow, looks so yummy! Only thing is I have no idea what some of the ingredients are about :( I took some pictures of some ingredients which I thought looked like tumeric and galangal from the supermarket (they are named yellow ginger and blue ginger respectively). Can I send them to you to have a look to make sure I am buying the right stuff?

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    1. Hope it helped ;)I think you'll be able to find the spices quite easily, usually they're sold in packets.

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  8. looks yummy! love rendang, must try this rembau version soon!

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    1. Thanks Shannon, am gonna try it with beef too. ;)

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  9. 10g cannot! Too little, not spicy at all. I'll make it 50g and you can try (I'll provide a glass of iced water for you too, cos I'm very considerate ;P)

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  10. Looks good! But I don't think I'll actually take the trouble to cook this.. ask Chef Ismail to come up with ready-made packets and ship them over! I'll be a loyal customer! hehe

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    1. Haha you can skip blending the spices and paste, use cili giling and marsala powder. So you just need to cook the chicken. ;P

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  11. Just the right timing to share this recipe at this time. I guess that the traffic is quite smooth in KL now? This rendang looks delicious!

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    1. Yeah we went to town today, and no traffic jam at all! So nice.

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  12. Looks delicious ! I love rendang ! You know where I usually eat my rendang ?! Toastbox ! :D Hey ! It tastes really good ! lol But I really want to try that fantastic rendang in the photos ! ;D

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  13. 1.5kg of Coconut milk?! Wowee! This is something that you can only have once a year perhaps. But definitely looks yummy!

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  14. 1.5kg of Coconut milk?! Wowee! This is something that you can only have once a year perhaps. But definitely looks yummy!

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Please drop any comments or questions you may have here. Thank you so much for reading!