Rendang comes from the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, and it is less a recipe than a test of character. Beef goes into coconut milk with chilies, ginger, galangal, lemongrass and lime leaves, and then it simmers, and simmers, until the liquid has gone and the coconut oil begins to fry the meat in its own spices. Halfway there, while still saucy, the dish is called kalio; only when it turns dark brown and nearly dry does it earn the name rendang. That dryness was the point: Minang travelers carried it on journeys lasting weeks, and it kept.

It is served at weddings and at the feasts that close Ramadan, and in 2018 Indonesia named it one of its five national dishes. For a race weekend it is ideal precisely because it is slow: three and a half hours of mostly gentle stirring, which is roughly the length of qualifying and the build up combined, and it tastes even better the next day.

The kerisik

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (40 g) unsweetened desiccated coconut

The spice paste

Ingredients

• 10 dried red chilies
• 10 shallots
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 piece, 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) fresh ginger
• 1 piece, 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) fresh galangal
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 3 candlenuts
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) vegetable oil

The rendang

Ingredients

• 2 lb (900 g) boneless beef chuck or shin
• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 6 makrut lime leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 cans, 13.5 oz each (800 ml total) full fat coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt

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