It had been on my schedule for a long time to try slow cooker cooking. A while back I borrowed a slow cooker from my aunt and the first recipe I started with is this low FODMAP rendang from the slow cooker.

I had heard about this Indonesian dish many times before, but I had never eaten it myself. Partly because ordering this dish in a restaurant is not an option for me, because there is normally a lot of onion in this dish.

Now that I had a slow cooker at my disposal, this was the first dish I thought of. And I’ll tell you, I regret that I never made rendang before. Wow this is delicious!

This dish has so much flavour. And believe me, even without onion or garlic you can make rendang super tasty.

The ingredients of the low FODMAP rendang

As I said, I wasn’t very familiar with rendang, so I got inspiration for this recipe from a number of other websites.

I based my recipe for low FODMAP rendang on these Dutch recipes Eetspiratie and Eef Kookt Zo. With some adjustments, a delicious low FODMAP variant was created.

Important to know: if you are not a fan of “difficult” ingredients and prefer not to make trips to the Asian supermarket, then this dish is not for you.

You can’t find some of the ingredients you need in every supermarket. I went to a large Asian supermarket here in the Netherlands to find the different spices and pastes I needed. It will differ in each country where these ingredients can be found.

If you are in the Netherlands, I would definitely recommend visiting an Asian supermarket. Herbs and spices are often much cheaper in the Asian supermarket. My favourite Asian supermarket chain in the Netherlands is Amazing Oriental.

Fresh herbs, leaves and pastes

• Lime leaves (djeroek poeroer): I bought this at the Asian supermarket.
• Bay leaves: you can find this at any supermarket.
• Star anise
• Tamarind paste: you can find this at the Asian supermarket, but usually also at regular supermarkets in the Asian department. Make sure it doesn’t contain any high FODMAP ingredients.
• Sambal Oelek: sambal oelek is the Indonesian name for a chili paste made of mashed Spanish peppers. I also bought this at the Asian supermarket.
• Trassi: trassi is shrimp paste. I also bought this at the Asian supermarket.

  Make sure you buy a brand without additives, because sometimes there are unspecified spices on the packaging. That can be onion or garlic.

• Lemongrass (sereh)
• Fresh ginger
• A red pepper
• Spring onion, the green part: this is low FODMAP and I use it as a replacement for onion.

Dried spices

• Ground cumin (djinten)
• Ground cilantro (ketoembar)
• Ground galangal root (laos)

Other ingredients

You also need meat for this dish. I used blade steak for this. You can also use chuck roast. The meat shrinks considerably during cooking, so you need a fairly large amount. I use 1 kilogram (35 oz) and that is enough for 4-5 people.

Furthermore, coconut milk and a little sugar are added to the rendang. I also use garlic-infused olive oil to brown the meat.

Rendang with and without slow cooker

I made this dish in a slow cooker. A slow cooker, or crock pot, is a device that allows you to cook dishes at a low temperature. You put a dish in the slow cooker, turn on the device and often let it stew at a low temperature for 4 to 8 hours.

Because you prepare the dish slowly, the flavours often soak into the dish better. You also don’t need to use any fat in a slow cooker.

In addition, you don’t have to pay attention to the slow cooker while preparing, while you have to do that if you have a pan on the fire.

You already have slow cookers from 50 euros. I’m still experimenting with what I can do with a slow cooker. I’ll keep you posted when more slow cooker recipes are added 😉

Don’t have a slow cooker? No problem either, you can simply make this rendang in a Dutch oven. Then add all ingredients to the Dutch oven and mix well.

Then let the rendang cook over low heat for about 4 hours.

Serving

I served the rendang with rice and green beans. I also like to serve stew with baked potatoes or fries.

Of course you can also go wild and make an entire, as we call it in the Netherlands, Indonesian rice table out of it. Then dishes such as spicy beans, sweet and sour cucumber and prawn crackers are delicious to accompany the rendang.

If you like it, I will also create some low FODMAP variants of these dishes!

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