MasterChef at Home: Recreate Dilruk Jayasinha’s Immunity Pin-Winning Beef Rendang

Celebrity MasterChef has officially kicked off and the contestants are already impressing judges and audiences alike with their cooking chops. As we did with the last season of MasterChef, we’ll be doing our best to share fun recipes, tips and food hacks from the celebrity edition of the show here on the Lifehacker Australia website.

Our first MasterChef Celebrity recipe comes from Dilruk Jayasinha and it’s one that landed the actor an immunity pin in the comp. Here’s how to make Jayasinha’s Beef Rendang with Coconut Rice.

MasterChef at home: Dilruk Jayasinha’s Beef Rendang with Coconut Rice recipe

What you’ll need:

Beef Rendang

• 16 dried chillies
• 125g shredded coconut
• 800g beef chuck steak, cubed 3cm
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp tamarind puree
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 large brown onions, peeled, roughly chopped
• 3 jalapenos, roughly chopped
• 1 thumb sized piece ginger, peeled, roughy chopped
• 3 slices peeled galangal
• 3 large cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 tbsp dark plum sugar
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
• 3 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• 600ml tinned coconut cream

Kiribath

• 1 cup jasmine or sushi rice
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 200ml coconut cream
• pinch salt

Lunu Miris

• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp chilli powder
• 1 tbsp chili flakes
• 1 tbsp Maldive fish chips
• 2 tsp lime juice, or to taste
• dark palm sugar, sliced red chillies and curry leaves, to serve

Directions:

1. For the Beef Rendang, place chillies into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside to soften.
2. Place coconut into a dry frypan and toast over low heat until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3. Place the beef, sugar, tamarind puree and 1 teaspoons salt into a bowl, mix together and set aside.
4. Place the onions, jalapenos, dried chillies, ginger, 2 slices galangal, garlic and 2 heaped tablespoons toasted coconut into a food processor and blend to a smooth paste. Set aside.
5. Heat a pressure cooker on sauté setting. Add oil and when hot add the paste and cook, stirring until soft and golden, about 8-10 minutes, taking care to avoid burning the paste. Add palm sugar, soy sauce, lemongrass, lime leaves, remaining 1 slice galangal, turmeric, remaining 1 teaspoon salt and pepper and cook until fragrant. Add beef, toasted coconut and all but 1 tablespoon of remaining coconut cream and stir until beef is coated.
6. Cover pressure cooker with lid and cook under high pressure for 25 minutes or until beef is tender. Release pressure and keep warm.
7. For the Kiribath, place rice and water into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to as low as possible, cover saucepan with a lid and simmer until rice is tender and water has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Combine coconut cream and salt then very gently stir through cooked rice over the heat for about 30 seconds. Spoon into a bowl then unmould onto a plate when ready to serve. Garnish with a slice of chilli.
8. For the Lunu Miris, using a mortar and pestle, grind ingredients (except lime juice) to a coarse paste. Stir in lime juice. Transfer to a small serving bowl and garnish with curry leaves.
9. To serve, spoon Beef Rendang into a serving bowl and drizzle with reserved tablespoon coconut cream. Serve with the bowls of Kiribath, Lunu Miris and some dark palm sugar on the side.

You can catch up on all the latest on MasterChef Celebrity, the contestants and their recipes here.