BUT. I have done something awesome. And that is, made a Hari Raya cookie last week on my Asian Meal Prep video and guess what? I’m back this week with one of my favourite Hari Raya food – Rendang!
Alright let me give a little bit of an intro to what rendang is. Rendang is basically a spicy meat dish that actually originated from an ethnic group in Indonesia called Minangkabau. Over the years, the rendang has since seen so many different variations all over the region and is super popular in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and even South of Philippines.
It’s like ask any local Asian about rendang and trust me everyone would know what it is.
The traditional rendang is usually made out of beef or lamb but today I made this favourite of mine with chicken. It takes so much more time to make beef rendang and I have massive respect to all those nasi padang sellers who make this on a daily basis so I for now would say, no thanks.
The main ingredient apart from the meat in rendang is also coconut milk. Now we can go on and on with debates about this coconut milk but I believe coconut milk is healthy if taken within reason. Plus, there are so many studies that explains the positive benefits of coconut milk like this, this and this.
Coconut milk does contain high in calories and saturated fat but the fats derived from coconut milk is a medium chain triglyceride (MCT), which is metabolised differently compared to longer chain fatty acids. This means they go from the digestive tract straight into the liver where it’s used as energy or ketone production instead of being stored as fats.
My advice? Be informed. If you feel like you’re never ever ever going to have coconut milk because of it’s high saturated fat content then really, forgo this recipe. I have so many other Asian delights you can try.
But if you’re cool to have this along your balanced diet of mainly whole unprocessed foods, think of this dish as something you make as a treat, which is honestly, not so bad in a nutritious sense to begin with. (You know what’s bad? Having rendang every day from nasi padang stalls).
That being said, this is also a Hari Raya Special recipe which means you cook it on special occasions like Hari Raya so hey, relax a little bit and eat. It’s really okay.
If you’re ready, grab the recipe below and let’s do this. Oh and have fun with the pestle and mortar. It’s a classic.
Hari Raya Special: Aqilah’s Super Easy Rendang Ayam
Serves – 6
Time needed – 30 mins prep, 25 mins cooking
Cost – ~$1.85 per serve
Here’s what you need:
- 400g chicken breast, sliced
- 50g dessicated coconut, toasted until golden brown
- 2cm galangal, sliced
- 3 lemongrass, cut in half, we’re just using the stalks
- 50ml water
- 400ml pure coconut milk
- Sea salt to taste
- 5 kaffir lime leaves, sliced
Grind A
- 2 large red chillies, sliced
- 60g dried chillies, boiled for about ten mins
Grind B
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 10 cloves shallots, chopped
- 3cm galangal, chopped
- 3cm fresh turmeric, chopped
- 2 lemongrass, sliced at its stalk
Here’s how you do it:
- Prepare all the ingredients as above. I used pestle and mortar because, hey, it’s Eid and it’s just super authentic to seriously use all your arm and core muscles to grind the ingredients. Try as much as possible to grind them as finely as possible – or if you’re like me who is addicted to fresh chillies, leave some of the dried chillies just as it is. If you don’t have a pestle and mortar, you can use a food processor.
- Heat a non-stick skillet with coconut oil. Toss in lemongrass and galangal and cook until fragrant.
- Add in the chilli paste and stir for a minute before adding the rest of Grind B. Keep stirring for 1-2 mins.
- Add in chicken breasts, water and coconut milk and stir through. Let it simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.
- Toss in toasted coconut, sea salt to taste and kaffir lime leaves. Give it a final stir and congratulations, you have survived making a super easy chicken rendang.
How much this costs:
*Keep in mind that this numbers are a rough guide. It depends on where you buy it and when. At the end of the day it’s possible to eat healthy without breaking the bank. Also, ~ denotes the items that should already be in your pantry for a long time or it’s a very small amount.
Just for this recipe, it’s quite tough to work out how much the cost of this dish is, mainly because most of the ingredients should be there lying around in your fridge or pantry (yay whole foods and spices!). So I’ve added $3 to the end for the other ingredients denoted by a ~ just to give a rough gauge — even that may be a little too much. It shouldn’t be too expensive most importantly.
- 400g chicken breast, sliced – $4.50
- 50g dessicated coconut, toasted until golden brown – $1.00
- 2cm galangal, sliced ~
- 3 lemongrass, cut in half, we’re just using the stalks $0.50
- 50ml water ~
- 400ml pure coconut milk – $2.00
- Sea salt to taste ~
- 5 kaffir lime leaves, sliced ~
Grind A
- 2 large red chillies, sliced ~
- 60g dried chillies, boiled for about ten mins – $0.60
Grind B
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped ~
- 10 cloves shallots, chopped ~
- 3cm galangal, chopped ~
- 3cm fresh turmeric, chopped ~
- 2 lemongrass, sliced at its stalk ~
Total price = ~ $11.10
Price per serve = ~$1.85
How much calories and macros:
Calories: 333, Protein: 21.9g, Carbohydrates: 9.4g, Fats: 24g
