Malaysian Chicken Rendang-Style Casserole with Tomato

About This Recipe

Rendang is one of Southeast Asia's most celebrated dishes, a slow-cooked meat curry, traditionally beef, built on a paste of lemongrass, galangal, chile and toasted coconut, simmered in coconut milk for hours until the liquid reduces almost entirely and the meat turns deeply tender and dark. This casserole adapts that same rich spice paste to chicken and moves the long simmer into the oven, making it more hands-off for a weeknight, with a bit of tomato added for brightness against the richness. The rendang paste, blended from lemongrass, shallot, garlic, ginger and dried chiles, needs to fry in oil until fragrant and the color deepens before any liquid goes in, the same foundational technique used across Malay and Indonesian cooking. Toasted grated coconut (kerisik), pounded into a paste, is stirred in partway through cooking and is what gives real rendang its distinctive nutty, slightly caramelized depth that coconut milk alone can't achieve. Baked low and slow, covered, then uncovered to let the sauce reduce, this casserole aims for that same dark, glossy, intensely flavored result associated with a proper rendang, achieved in an oven rather than tended over a stovetop for hours.

Ingredients

Serves 5

• 1.3 kgbone-in chicken pieces
• 4 stalkslemongrass(bruised and chopped)
• 6shallots
• 5 clovesgarlic
• 1 thumbgalangal or ginger
• 5dried red chiles(soaked)
• 0.5 cupgrated coconut(toasted and pounded (kerisik))
• 2 canscoconut milk
• 2tomatoes(diced)
• 2kaffir lime leaves
• 0.25 cupvegetable oil
• 1.5 tspfine sea salt

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the spice paste

   Blend lemongrass, shallots, garlic, galangal and soaked chiles into a smooth paste.

2. 2

   Fry the paste

   Preheat oven to 150C (300F). Heat oil in an ovenproof pot over medium heat. Fry the paste, stirring often, until deeply fragrant and darkened, about 10 minutes.

3. 3

   Brown the chicken

   Add chicken pieces, browning on all sides in the paste, about 8 minutes.

4. 4

   Add coconut milk and tomato

   Pour in coconut milk, add diced tomatoes, kaffir lime leaves and salt. Bring to a simmer.

5. 5

   Bake

   Cover and bake 60 minutes. Stir in the toasted coconut paste, uncover, and bake 20-30 more minutes until the sauce reduces to a thick, dark, glossy coating.

Variations

• •

  Use beef chuck instead of chicken and extend the cooking time to 2.5-3 hours for a more traditional beef rendang.

• •

  Adjust the chile quantity in the paste for a milder or spicier finished dish.

• •

  Add a splash of tamarind water for extra tang if you prefer a sourer rendang.

Storage

Refrigerate up to 5 days in an airtight container; rendang is famous for tasting even better the next day. Reheat gently on the stove, adding a splash of water if the sauce has thickened too much.

Frequently Asked Questions