Malaysian Beef Rendang & Spiced Flatbreads

• 3-4 dried red chillies
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 4 large shallots
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 thumb-sized piece of galangal (if you can’t find galangal replace with an extra piece of ginger)
• 3 sticks of lemongrass
• groundnut oil
• 900g braising steak or beef shin
• 1 tablespoon soft light brown sugar
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
• 1 x 400g tin of light coconut milk
• 1 fresh red chilli
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• for the flatbreads
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 175g self raising flour, plus extra for dusting
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• sea salt
• 175g fat-free natural yoghurt

Place the dried chillies in a small bowl, and just cover with boiling water, then leave to rehydrate for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, peel and roughly chop the ginger, garlic and shallots, then add to a food processor with the coriander seeds, turmeric, dried chillies and soaking water. Season with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then blitz to a smooth paste.

Peel and matchstick the galangal. Trim the lemongrass, remove the outer leaves, and bash lightly. Place a medium non-stick stewpot over a medium-high heat and pour in a lug of oil. Slice the beef into 3cm pieces and fry until browned all over, then remove to a plate (you may have to do this in batches). Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the paste. Fry for around 10 minutes, or until dried out and smelling fantastic – make sure it doesn’t burn. Add the lemongrass and galangal to the pan, and fry for a further minute. Pour in 300ml water, then add the sugar, kaffir lime leaves, browned meat and resting juices. Gently bring to the boil, then as soon as it starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low and loosely cover. Cook for around 4 hours, or until the meat is tender and the sauce has reduced right down, stirring occasionally.

With around half an hour to go, get on with making the flatbreads. Preheat the oven to 150ºC-300ºC. Toast the cumin seeds in a medium non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat, then remove to a bowl. Add the remaining flatbread ingredients and mix together with your hands until you have a smooth dough. Knead on a floured-dusted surface for a couple of minutes, then evenly divide the mixture into 6 balls. Roll each one out to a 12cm round, roughly 2 to 3mm thick. Score each flatbread a few times in the middle and leave to one side. Pop the frying pan over a medium-high heat and once hot, drizzle in a lug of oil. Lightly fry each flatbread for around 3 minutes on each side, or until golden and charred, keeping them warm in the oven until needed.

Wipe the frying pan and return to the heat. Toast the desiccated coconut until lightly golden and tip into a small bowl. Once the meat is tender, remove the lid and turn the heat up to high. Stir in the toasted coconut and coconut milk, then cook the remaining liquid away, so you end up with dark sticky meat – don’t let it catch, but leave it to get dark and gnarly. Serve with the spiced flatbreads and fluffy rice, then finely slice and scatter over the chilli.