Beef rendang, an Indonesian authentic cuisine , is gaining worldwide recognition.

Two years ago CNNGo readers voted rendang as the most delicious food in the world.  Jamie Oliver, the world’s richest chef, featured beef rendang  in his newest book Save with Jamie: Shop Smart, Cook Clever, Waste Less.

Rendang, one of Indonesia’s 30 culinary icons, originated from the Minangkabau ethnic group in West Sumatera. The Indonesia Tourism website  describes rendang as a tender, savory, dry beef stew, layered in the rich spices of lemongrass and ginger, with a burst of chili and immersed in creamy coconut milk.

We invited Efriyanti, owner of a small business named Rendang Maktuo, to give a rendang cooking demo at Omar Niode Foundation’s event at the 3rd Organic, Green and Healthy Expo recently held in Jakarta.

She makes rendang from carefully selected ingredients, uses no artificial and are processed carefully to get the black-colored rendang and delicious dishes. Its rendang recipe is passed down from generation to generation.

According Efriyanti, who has been cooking since she was 14, rendang is a traditional food presented in traditional ceremonies.

Basically there are two types of rendang origin in West Sumatra. Those that come from Darek (inland) and rendang from the coastal areas.

Each region has different ingredients and cooking methods. Darek use simpler spices and cooking techniques. In terms of ingredients, rendang Darek only consists of chili, ginger, galangal, lemongrass , shallots, garlic, and kaffir lime leaves, bay leaves, and turmeric leaves. Some even cook rendang using only red onions, garlic, chili and spiced leaves. The cooking method is simple by mixing all the ingredients in coconut milk and stir slowly until dry.

In contrast, rendang from the coastal area is rich in flavor, and the ingredients can be sautéed.

Although beef rendang is the most popular, beef is not the only main ingredient for rendang. The texture and the main share can be very diverse depending on the taste of the consumers.

Efriynti prefers cooking rendang Darek. She made moist rendang (beef, chicken, fish, potatoes) and crispy rendang (corn, egg, beef lung, and cassava). As the cooking demo is arranged in celebration of Singkong Day, Efriyanti showed the audience how to cook rendang singkong (cassava rendang).

Initiated by Food Science and Technology Students in 2012, Singkong Day is a day where people are encouraged to consume cassava on October 7 each year . Those who took part to celebrate Singkong Day consumed cassava as food, drink or snack during breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks and shared their photos and stories in social media outlets.

The initiators hope to gradually make consuming cassava a trend to reduce dependence on rice as a staple food.

At the rendang singkong cooking demo, Efriyanti used the following ingredients: coconut milk; spice paste (red chili, shallot, garlic and galangal); lime leaves and turmeric leaves; lemon grass; anchovies and cassava.

The method, as Efriyanti showed the 75 visitors for the cooking demo, is quite simple but tedious and takes hours to finish: 1 . Peel cassava, cut into small cubes and boil 2 . Mix the coconut milk , spice paste and leaves. Cook and stir until thickened (rendang) and oily 3 . Separate oil from rendang by sieving 4 . Fry cassava cubes with the oil until crisp 5 . Mix fried cassava with rendang, cook, and keep stirring until completely dry.

Visitors asked questions ranging from how long it takes Efriyanti to cook rendang singkong (5 hours) to where she gets the cassava (she bought them in West Sumatera as it is hard to get fresh cassava recently). Those who asked questions went home with special mugs from Omar Niode Foundation as tokens of appreciation.

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Images: Kim Nguyen/Shutterstock, Monchichi Photography, Omar Niode Foundation