Popular Malaysian-Indonesian chicken rendang recipe you can cook at home from scratch! Tender chicken pieces slow-cooked in coconut-flavoured rendang curry sauce. Serve with plain rice to complement the dish.
The flavour of rendang chicken is just perfect for our taste buds and the spices hit the spot. Whenever we crave Indonesian/Malaysian dishes, our first choices are Nasi Lemak, Mee Goreng, and Rendang dishes. If you are craving spicy Asian chicken curries, Spicy Naga Chicken Curry and Ceylon Chicken Curry are our readers' favourite must-try recipes.
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What is Rendang curry?
Rendang is a slow-braised meat dish, cooked in coconut milk, herbs, and spices. The cooking process is similar to Thai Red Curry dishes. The history of rendang curry began in West Sumatra, Indonesia where it was mostly cooked with beef. Later it has become one of the popular curry dishes of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore as well.
Nowadays, rendang curry is cooked using various kinds of meat, poultry and seafood in different countries around the world.
Chicken rendang is called ' Ayam Rendang ' in Indonesian and Malay language. 'Ayam' means chicken and 'Rendang' means slow-cooked stew dish.
Why you'll love this recipe
You can enjoy the classic Malaysian-Indonesian rendang chicken curry at home just by following the simple steps in this recipe. Easy to prepare, requiring supermarket-friendly ingredients only.
It is also a versatile curry that can be cooked with various proteins and vegetables. It can also be stored in portions in the fridge as meal prep. You can prepare rendang chicken curry a day in advance and serve at ceremonies, dinners, or gathering parties. It goes well with rice, roti, nan, bread and even with noodles!
What do we need
- Chicken - Bone-in chicken chunks in medium size are best for cooking rendang. You can either use skin-on or skinless pieces.
- Spices - Cinnamon, cumin seeds, cloves, turmeric, and star anise are needed for this recipe.
- Coconut milk - Canned or fresh coconut milk can be used.
- Rendang spice paste ingredients - You will need shallots, ginger, garlic, galangal, chillies, and lemongrass.
- Lemongrass is an essential ingredient in rendang and enhances the dish's flavour. You can use fresh lemongrass stalks or frozen ones in Asian grocery stores.
- Kaffir lime leaves - add a fresh citrusy aroma and enhance the overall flavour of the dish. Instead of kaffir lime leaves you can add a teaspoon of lime zest or kaffir lime zest.
How to cook it
- Prepare the curry paste ahead by blending all "curry paste ingredients" in an electric mixer or food processor. You can also use mortar and pestle as a traditional grinding method.
- Heat the pan into medium heat and add oil. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds, cinnamon, cloves, and star anise. Let the spices sizzle for a few seconds.
- Add the prepared curry paste and turmeric. Saute for 1-2 minutes or until the curry paste colour change and fragrant.
- Then, pour the coconut milk in, stir it well.
- Next, add the chicken pieces, salt, sugar, and lemongrass. Combine everything well and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add water and bring the heat to high for 1-2 minutes. Then reduce the heat to low, close the lid, and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is tender and the sauce is reduced.
- Finish with tamarind juice and kaffir lime leaves. Make a taste test and adjust salt and water if needed.
- Transfer to a serving plate with garnish with fresh green chillies or coriander. Serve with plain rice.
Commonly asked questions
Both chicken and beef rendang require same basic ingredients. The curry paste ingredients are also the same but the larger amount of spices will be required for beef rendang due to the different flavor and texture of the meat. Cooking time will also vary with longer time for beef to tender.
You can cook rendang in large batch and store it in a freezer-safe containers and freeze for later use. To reheat it, defrost it overnight in the fridge. Reheat it over the stovetop or in the microwave until hot and add water if the sauce is dry.
To get that coconut flavour, you can use coconut cream, coconut oil or blended coconut shreds as a substitute. As a coconut milk alternative, you can use full cream milk, heavy cream or plant-based milk to achieve the creamy texture but the flavour won't be the same as coconut milk.
Cooking note & variations
- Since it is a slow-cooking dish, it is important not to cut the chicken into tiny pieces.
- Dried red chillies add the right colour for rendang. Soak them in hot water in advance before adding them to the grinder. The amount is adjustable to your liking.
- Rendang curry sauce must not be too watery. It needs to be slightly dry with oils separated from the curry. Oil curry separation is important. Must cook until the water runs out and the curry gets thickened with oil separated.
- To achieve the authentic taste of the curry, the most important part is to slow cook the meat with rendang paste, with the right amount of spices and coconut milk.
- Kerisik ( toasted grated coconut ) - You can also add kerisik for an extra rich coconutty flavour. Kerisik is a fresh coconut shred or frozen grated coconut is toasted and ground. It is used in Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean dishes.
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📖 Recipe
Chicken Rendang
Ingredients
- 600 grams Chicken Skinless bone-in chicken, cut medium pieces
- 200 ml Coconut milk Full fat coconut milk or double cream ( heavy cream )
- 250 ml Water About 1 cup warm water, ( add more water if needed )
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 stick Cinnamon
- 2-3 Star anise
- 5-6 Cloves
- 1 Lemongrass Bruised and tie it into a knot
- 1 tbsp Tamarind juice See details in note
- 4-5 Kaffir lime leaves or ( lime zest 1 tsp )
- 1 tbsp Brown sugar or palm sugar or regular white sugar
- 1 tsp Salt Or adjust salt to taste
- 4 tbsp Cooking oil add more oil if needed
Rendang curry paste
- 4-5 Onion Shallot onions, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp Lemongrass Chopped
- 10-12 Dried long red chillies Deseeded and soaked in hot water for 10 mins.
- 4-5 cloves Garlic Roughly chopped
- 2 tsp Galangal Chopped or sliced
- 2 tsp Ginger Chopped or sliced
- 1 tsp Turmeric powder Or fresh turmeric sliced
Garnish
- Coriander
- Fresh chillies
Instructions
- First, place all the rendang curry paste ingredients in the food processor and grind it into a smooth paste. Add a splash of water if needed.
- Heat the pan into medium heat and add oil. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds, cinnamon, cloves, and star anise. Let the spices sizzle for a few seconds.
- Add the prepared curry paste and saute for 1-2 minutes or until the curry paste colour change and fragrant.
- Then, pour the coconut milk in, stir it well. Next, at the chicken pieces, salt, sugar, and lemongrass. Combine everything well and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Now add water and bring the heat to high for 1-2 minutes. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
- Finish with tamarind juice and kaffir lime leaves. Make a taste test and add more salt or water if needed.
- Transfer to a serving plate with garnish with fresh green chillies or coriander. Serve with plain rice.
Video
Notes
- Tamarind juice/puree - You can use readymade store-bought tamarind puree or homemade. To make tamarind puree at home, soak the tamarind pulp in hot water for 15 minutes and massage the pulp using your hands. Then strain the seeds and pulps by using a mesh strainer.
- Coconut milk - recommend using full fat ( full cream ) coconut milk. I usually use Aroy-D or Chaokoh coconut milk tins. Instead of coconut milk, you can use double cream ( heavy cream ).
- Dried chillies - should be deseeded and soaked in hot water for 10-15 minutes to rehydrate and soften them before grinding. Instead of dried chillies, you can use regular hot/mild chilli powder. You might want to adjust the chilli amount to your taste.
- Spices - You don't have to use all the spices used in this recipe. You can adjust the flavour to your liking.
- Galangal - has a hot, peppery, earthy, citrusy flavour and is similar to ginger. You can find fresh or frozen galangal at Chinese/Thai or Asian supermarkets. You can omit it if you cannot find it.
- Kaffir lime leaves - brings fresh zesty flavour. You can add a dash of lime zest or kaffir lime zest as a substitute.
- How to serve this curry? Simply serve with basmati rice, jasmine rice or a choice of cooked rice, noodles, naan, chapati, or flatbread.
- To control the heat you can reduce the amount of dried chillies, galangal, and ginger.
- Nutritional facts are calculated approximately per serving without adding rice or noodles. ( It can be varied by the number of different products used. )
Dawen says
This recipe is very helpful and easy to follow. The taste is perfect too. I used to live in Singapore and I loved their Indo/Malay dishes.
Khin says
So glad that you like it, Dawen. Thanks for trying it out and sharing your feedback.