On the heat. Hot

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg boneless mutton, 40 mm cubes
• 1 l thick coconut milk
• 100 g desiccated coconut, dry-roasted dark and ground (kerisik)
• — SPICE PASTE
• 15 dried chillies, soaked
• 10 shallots · 8 cloves garlic
• 5 cm galangal · 3 cm ginger · 2 cm turmeric root
• 3 lemongrass stalks, white part
• 1 tbsp coriander seed · 1 tsp cumin · 1 tsp fennel
• — AROMATICS
• 4 kaffir lime leaves · 2 turmeric leaves · 1 cinnamon stick · tamarind · palm sugar

Method

1. Blend the spice paste smooth with a little water. Fry it in oil over medium heat for 15 minutes until it darkens and the oil separates out.
2. Coconut milk, aromatics, tamarind and palm sugar in. Bring to a simmer.
3. Mutton in. Simmer uncovered, stirring every 20 minutes, for three hours. It will go from soupy to thick to nearly dry.
4. The kerisik in for the last 45 minutes. Now stir almost constantly — this is where rendang goes from a wet curry to a dry one and it will catch.
5. It is finished when the oil has separated out, the sauce clings as a dark mahogany paste, and there is no liquid at all.
6. Rest overnight if you can. Rendang genuinely improves for three days and freezes perfectly. Coconut rice.

Cook's note. Wet rendang is unfinished curry. The whole technique is a braise that becomes a fry as the coconut milk breaks. Stop at the wet stage and you have missed it.

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