Name: High Protein Beef Rendang
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 3 h
Total time: 3 h 15 min
Yield: 10 servings
Cuisine: Indonesian
Ingredients: 2000g beef chuck; 100g Ayam Rendang Curry Paste; 400ml Coles Light Coconut Milk; 500g brown onions; 100g cooked white rice per serve

Ingredients

Beef Chuck (lean)2000g
Brown Onions500g
Ayam Rendang Curry Paste100g
Coles Light Coconut Milk400ml
Cooked White Rice (to serve)100g per serve

Recipe Info

CuisineIndonesian

Main proteinBeef

Cook methodStovetop then oven

Oven temp160°C (140°C fan)

Fridge life5 days

Freezer3 months

Method

1Dice beef chuck into 4cm cubes. Brown in batches in a large heavy pot over high heat ... don't rush this, good colour on the beef adds depth. Set aside.
2Dice onions and cook in the same pot until softened, about 5 minutes.
3Add rendang paste and stir to coat everything. Cook for 5 minutes until fragrant.
4Return beef to the pot. Pour in coconut milk, stir and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes.
5Cover with a lid and cook in the oven at 160°C (140°C fan) for 2 to 3 hours until the beef is tender.
6Serve with 100g cooked white rice per portion. Chuck it in your containers and you're done for the week.

🍳 Meal Prep Tips

✓ Divide into 10 containers once cooled. Keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days.

✓ Freezes perfectly ... portion into ziplock bags flat for easy stacking. Good for 3 months.

✓ Add 100g cooked white rice to each container when serving. Macros above already include this.

✓ Tastes even better the next day once the spices have had time to develop.

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Why This Recipe Works For Meal Prep

Four ingredients. Thats really all this is. Beef, onions, coconut milk and a good curry paste. If you can dice an onion and turn on an oven you can make this. No fancy technique, no chef skills, nothing that requires you to watch a YouTube tutorial three times before you start. Just put it together, shove it in the oven and leave it alone for three hours.

The thing that makes beef rendang so good for high protein meal prep is the beef chuck. Its a cheap, tough cut that turns completely fall apart tender after a long slow cook. You get 2kg of meat out of this recipe which works out to 10 solid serves with rice. Thats an entire weeks worth of lunches or dinners sorted in one cook session. Compare that to the alternative ... bland chicken and broccoli for the fifth day in a row ... and its not even close.

Where Does Beef Rendang Actually Come From

Rendang originated with the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra in Indonesia, probably somewhere around the 16th century. It was originally made as a way to preserve meat in a hot climate before refrigeration was a thing. The long cooking process and the spices in the coconut paste basically act as a natural preservative, which is why rendang lasts so well in the fridge even today.

Traditionally rendang was cooked until almost all the liquid had evaporated and the meat was completely dry and dark, what people in Indonesia call rendang kering. This version is a bit saucier because honestly that suits meal prep better and the sauce over rice is half the point. In 2011 CNN named rendang one of the worlds 50 most delicious foods and honestly its hard to argue with that.

The dish spread across Malaysia, Singapore and beyond through trade and migration and now its one of those recipes that basically every Southeast Asian country has their own version of. Ours obviously takes some shortcuts with the pre made paste but the end result is genuinely close to the real thing and takes a fraction of the time a traditional rendang would take to make from scratch.