I am always up for cooking ethnics dishes, as it allows me to expand my cooking skills and palette.  I love attempting new Asian dishes in particular, as I got so spoiled living in San Francisco with being exposed to some of the most amazing Asian food to ever pass my lips. It’s also of interest to me to understand the culture behind the dish, where it originated from, what’s the history behind the dish, etc.

With being part of the World Fusion Texas Taste Team, this was a good opportunity to whip up a fabulous Asian dish using one of WorldFoods sauces.  WorldFoods has created authentic sauces and pastes from all-natural ingredients, suitable for those with celiac disease.

Rendang is a spicy meat dish which originated from the Minangkabau ethnic group of Indonesia and is served typically at ceremonial occasions and to honor guests. Rendang is typically a meat dish slowly simmered in a coconut milk based curry that also contains very aromatic spices such as lemon grass, chili, turmeric, garlic and shallots.

Here are the ingredients and how I prepared the Malaysian Rendang Pork:

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Pork Shoulder
• 1 12 oz jar of WorldFoods Malaysian Rendand Curry Cooking Sauce
• 4 Tablespoons of Fresh Grated Ginger
• 1 bunch of Cilantro
• 1 Cups of Chicken Stock
• 2 Cups of Water
• 2 Cups of Rice (I prefer to use Nishiki Rice however you can use any rice brand)

I began by searing off the pork shoulder in a cast iron skillet, bringing out the natural flavors of the meat.  Next I placed the pork shoulder in the crock pot on high, adding in the Malaysian Rendang sauce, water, chicken stock and add in 1/2 of the fresh grated ginger.  I allowed the pork to slow cook for 4-5 hours.

Next I prepared rice in the rice cooker by rinsing two cups of rice over and over until the water became clear.  I add in the remainder of the fresh grated ginger to the rice and poured in enough water to cover the rice by 1/2″ in the rice cooker pot & switch of the rice cooker (yes I completely through out the 2 to 1 ration typically used in rice preparation.  I learned this trick from my brother as he’s lived in South Korea the last 5 years).

Finishing preparation was simple, just chopping up some fresh cilantro to top off the dish, as I wanted to keep the dish clean and simple, letting the sauce be the star of the dish.  And WorldFoods Malaysian Rendang cooking sauce did just that! I would use this sauce again as it is the perfect balance of sweet and savory and would pair well with chicken as well.  Next time I might try adding in a whole onion and coconut milk to the dish to make it even better.  The other thing I loved about this dish?  I had left overs for two day so I got to keep enjoying the dish over and over!

More on World Fusion Texas Taste Team:

Texas Taste Team is made of the following food writers/bloggers:

• Lonely Gourmet (Twitter: @LonelyGourmet)
• The Austin Gastronomist (Twitter: @ATXGastronomist)
• Mary Makes Dinner (@MaryMakesDinner)
• Blinded by the Bite! (@BlindedBite)

Each of us will be posting a series of blog posts on the dishes we create using the WorldFoods sauces.  I can’t wait to see what my team mates come up with when preparing their dishes, as they all of excellent taste buds!

Make sure to follow each of our blogs/twitter for updates on the competition and  WorldFoods channels (see below):

WorldFoods on Twitter:  @fusiontasteteam
WorldFoods on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/WORLDFOODSfusionofflavours
WorldFoods on Pinterest:  http://pinterest.com/worldfoods/