Rendang Paste substitute

Substitutes for Rendang Paste with ratios

1. 2Malaysian or Indonesian meat curry powder plus fresh aromatics

   Close match

   Use 3 tablespoons curry powder plus a blitzed base of 6 shallots, 4 garlic cloves, ginger and 1 lemongrass stalk, for every 1 kg meat

   The closest jar-and-cupboard shortcut, and a very respectable result.

   What changes

   Best for

   beef and chicken rendang, dry curries, weeknight versions

   A meat curry powder blend, sold in most Asian grocers, already contains the coriander, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, clove and star anise side of rendang, which is the part hardest to improvise. Bloom it in hot oil for a minute before adding the blitzed fresh aromatics, then fry the lot until it darkens. The result is more coriander-and-cumin forward and less bright than a proper bumbu, and it lacks the fresh chili sweetness, so add a tablespoon of sambal oelek. Use a meat or beef curry powder, not a generic yellow curry powder, which is too turmeric-heavy.

2. 3Laksa paste

   Different taste

   Use 3 to 4 tablespoons for every 1 kg meat

   Shares most of rendang's aromatics, and brings one loud extra flavour with it.

   What changes

   Best for

   beef rendang at short notice, chicken rendang, dry coconut curries

   Laksa paste is built on the same foundation of galangal, lemongrass, chili, shallot, turmeric and candlenut, which is why it gets you a surprisingly long way. The difference is that almost every laksa paste contains dried shrimp or belacan, so the dish tastes distinctly of the sea, and it is often noticeably sweeter. Counter it with an extra 100 ml of coconut cream and three tablespoons of toasted grated coconut, which pushes the flavour back toward rendang. Nobody will mistake it for the real thing, but it will be a good dish.

3. 4Massaman curry paste

   Different taste

   Use 3 tablespoons for every 1 kg meat, plus 3 tablespoons toasted desiccated coconut

   A better jarred Thai option than red curry paste, because it already has the warm spices.

   What changes

   Best for

   beef rendang style braises, slow-cooked coconut curries, chicken

   Massaman is the Thai curry paste that already contains cinnamon, clove, cardamom and often peanut, which puts it much closer to rendang's warm-spice profile than red curry paste is. It is sweeter and rounder, and the peanut note is noticeable. Add the toasted coconut and a tablespoon of tamarind paste, cook it down properly dry rather than leaving it soupy, and you get something in the right family. It will still taste Thai around the edges because of the kaffir lime and shrimp paste in most jars.

4. 5Thai red curry paste, corrected

   Different taste

   Use 3 tablespoons paste plus 1 teaspoon ground coriander, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, 2 cloves and 3 tablespoons toasted desiccated coconut, for every 1 kg meat

   The least-bad common jar swap, and it needs real help to stop tasting Thai.

   What changes

   Best for

   emergency rendang, coconut braises, when the shop only had one kind of curry paste

   Used straight, Thai red curry paste produces a dish that tastes clearly Thai and not Indonesian, because of the kaffir lime and shrimp paste in it and the complete absence of rendang's warm baking spices and toasted coconut. The additions above cover most of the gap: the coriander, cinnamon and clove supply the spice-box depth, and the toasted coconut supplies the darkness and thickness that is arguably rendang's signature. Be honest with yourself that this is an approximation rather than a substitution.

5. 6Sambal oelek plus curry powder and fresh aromatics

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 2 tablespoons sambal oelek plus 2 tablespoons curry powder plus 1 tablespoon grated ginger and 4 crushed garlic cloves, for every 1 kg meat

   Rough and ready, made entirely from things people already have.

   What changes

   Best for

   weeknight cooking, when no Asian grocer is reachable, using up a jar of sambal

   This gets you heat, savouriness, a spiced backbone and a red colour, which between them read as a rendang-adjacent dish. What is missing is the perfume: galangal and lemongrass are what make rendang smell like rendang, and there is no imitating either from a standard supermarket. If you can get even one stalk of lemongrass or a jar of galangal paste, add it, and the dish improves out of proportion to the effort. Expect something hotter and more one-dimensional than the real thing.