Georgina Hayden

Feeding since 1982

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Batch, budget cooking – Beef Rendang

01.08.2019 by georgie // Leave a Comment

Oh January you funny month. When pay day can’t come soon enough, no one can be bothered to leave the house (SO COLD), and an empty diary is a dream – or is that just me?

And now for slight digression (bear with me). I get asked to do lots of interesting things via the weird and wonderful world of Social Media, brands that you wouldn’t necessarily associate with a food writer. I mostly end up saying no because, well, authenticity. However last year Voucher Codes got in touch to ask me if I’d be up for filming a budget friendly family recipe for them. Interesting. Whilst they are not a food brand I appreciate their aim to help people save money and be more savvy. I am constantly trying to be less wasteful, for the environment and for our pockets. So I said yes, and gave them one of my favourite batch cook recipes.

At the time I had just cooked this beef rendang for friends that had come to stay. There were 4 adults in total and 3 children, aged 9, 5 and 16 months. I actually made it with chicken thighs, which you can very easily do. And left out nearly all the chilli, as Persephone was due to eat it too (I sneaked in a very little bit). I simply added chilli oil to the adult portions at the end.

So, here you go, if you can face it, theres a video below of yours truly demonstrating how easy it is to make said Rendang. Perfect for all ages (just adjust the chilli), great to make in advance, little involvement and it freezes really well. I hope you like it.

BEEF RENDANG

  • 4 – 6 dried red chillies
  • 2cm piece of ginger
  • 2 lemongrass stalks
  • 2cm piece galangal (if you can’t find galangal replace with an extra piece of ginger)
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 3 shallots
  • 1kg beef shin or stewing beef
  • 1 x 400g can of coconut milk
  • 4 kaffir lime leaves
  • 50g desiccated coconut (unsweetened ideally but don’t worry if not, just soak it in boiling water for a few minutes first)
  • Basmati rice, to serve
  • ½ bunch of coriander

Store cupboard ingredients:

  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • Groundnut or vegetable oil
  • 1 star anise
  • 1 stick of cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp soft light brown sugar
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Method:

  1. Place a large casserole pan on a medium heat and toast the dried chillies for a minute.
  2. Meanwhile peel and roughly chop the ginger, galangal (if using), garlic and shallots.
  3. Add to a food processor along with the turmeric and toasted chillies.
  4. Blitz the spices to a paste, adding a splash of water if need be.
  5. Trim the lemongrass stalks and bash them gently in a pestle and mortar.
  6. Pop a large casserole type pan on a medium heat and pour in a couple of tablespoons of groundnut oil.
  7. Add the star anise, cinnamon and lemongrass and fry for a minute.
  8. Spoon in all the spice paste from the food processor and reduce the heat a little.
  9. Gently saute for 10 minutes to soften, stirring often so it doesn’t catch.
  10. Chop the beef into 3cm pieces, removing any large pieces of fat, and add to the pan.
  11. Fry for a few minutes to brown then add the coconut milk along with the kaffir lime leaves.
  12. Turn the heat up and gently bring to the boil. Stir in the brown sugar and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
  13. Once boiling cover the pot and cook on the lowest heat for around 2 – 2.5 hours.
  14. Check the beef, it should be tender and falling apart. If using shin it may take longer, up to 4 hours.
  15. While the beef is cooking toast the coconut. If your desiccated coconut is sweetened, soak in a small bowl in boiling water for a few minutes, then drain it in a sieve to remove the excess sugar.
  16. Toast the coconut in a dry frying pan over a low heat until lightly golden, then keep to one side.
  17. When the rendang is ready, remove the lid and stir in the toasted coconut.
  18. Turn up the heat and bring the rendang back to the boil. You want to cook it over a medium- high heat for a further 15 – 20 minutes, so that the liquid completely cooks away and you are left with a sticky and gnarly curry, that is coated in the coconut spice mix.
  19. Don’t be afraid to let it catch slightly as it cooks, you want it to darken and caramelise.
  20. Cook your rice according to packet instructions and serve alongside the rendang, garnishing with the chopped coriander leaves.

Categories // Batch Cooking, Family, General, Main meals, Stirring Slowly

Hibernation, rainbows and batch cooking

09.20.2017 by georgie // 2 Comments

Heads up, there’s a lot of chat. If you’re just interested in the recipes, skip to the end.

Almost a year away from the blog, just over 9 months – says a lot doesn’t it? I remember when Pete first set this up for me, I used it as a way of trying to get my life in some sort of order after Archie died. Throwing myself into cooking and looking after my little unit, trying to rebuild my confidence. It was my way of coping and trying to do something constructive when I felt like I was drowning. Fast forward to the end of last year (oh if only it were that simple!), 2.5 years later, and I’m pregnant again. 3rd pregnancy in 3 years. Cue an emotional shut down. I had no interest in cooking or blogging and my main goal was to get through the day. As someone who is normally pretty open I felt totally incapable of talking about what we were going through, all I could focus on was the clock and ticking off the hours and days. Most days I felt like I was walking a tightrope and just about (but not always) keeping my shit together.

khichdi

[Read more…]

Categories // General, Main meals, Pregnancy and Parenting, Stirring Slowly

Supper Clubs and Sweetcorn Ice cream

09.19.2016 by georgie // 7 Comments

Bib + Tucker at Palm 2

I’ve just logged in and found 3 half written posts on here… Good intentions and all that? Hey ho, in a way, its a good thing, as it means book life has been busy. Stirring Slowly is out out and there has been all sorts of PR surrounding it – demo’s, Q+A’s, podcasts etc. It’s quite strange once you’ve written a book, for me it was anyway. I put so much love and time, sweat and tears into writing, developing and testing it, that once it got released I felt a bit lost. What do I do now? I still want to talk about it, it’s the biggest thing I’ve ever done! And more than anything I just want people to cook from it and to enjoy it (seeing peoples pics of what they’ve made must be one of the best feelings). I don’t want to start writing book 2 straight away, it would feel like I was cheating on SS, does that sound strange? Not just yet anyway…  [Read more…]

Categories // Baking & puddings, Celebration, Drinks, Events, General, Main meals Tags // Gin, Ice Cream, Party, Pork, Stirring Slowly, Supperclub, Sweetcorn

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Georgina is an award winning food writer, cook and presenter from North London.
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