Preparation

Preparing the dried chillies

• Boil some water.
• With a pair of scissors, cut each chilli into 2-3 pieces, and place in a bowl. If you want to save time, you could use 3 Tbsp of any generic shop bought chilli paste, ideally, without any other ingredients like onions and garlic.
• Pour the very hot water onto the cut chillies and cover with a side plate. Leave to soak for 15-20 minutes while you get everything else ready.
• Marinate the potatoes and tofu (optional step, go on to the kerisik step if you want to skip this)
• Depending on the size of your potatoes, halve or quarter them. Place on a plate.
• Cut up your tofu into small cubes about 2.5cm (1") long. Place on a separate plate.
• Sprinkle the turmeric, lime juice and salt equally over both, and rub all over, being gentle with the tofu. Set aside while you get the kerisik going.

Preparing the kerisik

• Dry fry (toast) the desiccated coconut on low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. When done, tip onto a plate while you get the ground ingredients going. Leaving it in the hot pan will brown it further, and you don't want it to be burnt.
• Usually, we'd pound this toasted coconut before adding to the rendang paste below. But I've dispensed with that method, and quite enjoy the texture the coarser kerisik lends to the rendang.

Making the rendang paste

• Place all the paste ingredients into a chopper and chop for about 30 seconds, mixing everything well. Continue chopping/blending until you have a fairly fine mix. Add a little water if you need it.
• Let's brown the potatoes and tofu (optional step)
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan on high heat.
• Brown the potatoes for about 3 minutes, tossing and turning them. Reserve that marinating liquid. Tip out onto a plate.
• In the same pan, brown the tofu for 2-3 minutes, tossing and turning gently, so as not to break them up. Reserve the marinating liquid. Tip out onto a plate.

Cooking methods

• Get a large saucepan and heat the oil on medium heat.
• Fry the cinnamon stick for 15 seconds, then add the ground paste.
• Sauté this paste for a good 5 minutes, stirring regularly. It's going to be dry as we are not using much oil here. Just scrape your pan and continue frying.
• Toss in the potatoes without the marinating liquid. Mix to cover the potatoes with the paste.
• Pour in the coconut milk and water and stir.
• Using a pair of scissors, roll the turmeric leaves into a chiffonade, and snip into strands straight into the pan. Add the salt, and the marinating liquid (from both the potatoes and the tofu) and bring everything to a simmer.
• If using lime leaves instead, now's the time to drop them in.
Stir, then partially cover and cook for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your potatoes. We want the potatoes completely done, but not falling apart before we add the tofu and capsicum (bell pepper).
• When your potatoes are done, add the tofu and capsicum and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste, and add more salt if you think your rendang needs it. Take off the heat and leave it to rest for 15 minutes for the flavours to develop, before serving.