Beef Rendang Challenge: Result

The blind taste test was a failure, simply because "buat gue mah, masuk mulut aja, gue makan aja loh!" (both are the same, I just eat). However, eventually, it was unanimously agreed that the contender B (the one I made from scratch) has more distinct flavor. "Lebih kerasa bumbunya..".


H gives me the score card, like a true engineer. He said contender B "looks like and has the texture of a real rendang. It taste a little bit spicier on the tongue, but for the Indonesian people it would be perfect. It tastes better than the instant one." Heh. So my effort is not wasted that I received a massage that night.

Personally, the Indofood instant Beef Rendang taste a tad sweeter on the tongue. I would think this is the rendang jawa style. The spices are grinded so finely that only a factory grinder can do. It tastes good actually. I have not yet tested Bamboe's instant rendang, so can't comment on which is better.

However, I personally prefer the home made version. In terms of taste, it's slightly salty and sour (thanks to the tamarind). I have a greater control on the spice ratio and the chilli. And because my food processor is not as heavy duty, the paste is rather coarse. You can still see the chilli and feel the texture of ginger and galangal. I like the idea of having the cinnamon stick, lemongrass, star anises on the serving plate - very homely.

On the same note, Y made kuping gajah to accompany coffee. She's known to be the queen of street food snacks. I honestly didn't know about this snack well until I was in Singapore. Even then, I never quite seen it in two colour such as this. She gave me the dough and I fried it at home myself.

Verdict: I was well on my fifth, or eighth (does it matter?) when H opened the fridge and asked where the ice cream is. He ate a total of one kuping gajah. In fact, he used it to scoop the ice cream into his mouth. Well done my love.