I’ve been enjoying watching Crash Course Cuisine with Hudson Yang on the National Geo channel. Just saw the episode where he learns to make beef rendang. I’ve never had it and have always wanted to taste it. I’d love to try making it, but is it very complicated? Of course there are a ton of recipes online, but I have no idea which one to use. We have some Asian groceries in the area so getting the ingredients shouldn’t be a problem. Thoughts? Favorite recipes? Really appreciate this. 
There’s been a few discussions about the dish here. Hope it helps 
And two promising recipe links:
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Effectively this is just a stew, so process is easy.
Essentially, it’s make spice paste. Fry that and beef. Add liquid. Simmer. Add more spices and liquid. Simmer. Eat.
As you say, lots of online recipes. Pick the one that most appeals.
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What sets rendang apart from many other stew is that is becomes a dry stew where you evaporate nearly all the braising liquid so that the coconut milk fat coats the meet and is a key part of the sauce
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There is a nice recipe on it online from saveur that I e used.
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Haven’t tried that one yet but we liked the one from “All about Braising” - that looks like the correct recipe
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There are several good recipe references on prior threads (see here, here, here. The restaurant versions I’ve enjoyed have a complexity of spices that I’d look for or adjust for in a recipe – star anise, clove, cinnamon, pepper, maybe more (often there are recipe simplifications that leave them out).
But also, if you don’t already stock most of the ingredients, there are at Malaysian rendang pastes available at Asian stores (same idea as Thai curry paste, except these are packets, not cans or jars) that would much simplify the exercise of trying the dish! (This and this are available near me.)
I believe lamb is traditional, but I have eaten mostly beef rendang near me in nyc.
Finally, the dish really benefits from a rest to let everything meld – so make extra so you have leftovers if you can’t resist digging in the first day!
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Thanks, all. Your comments are really helpful. 
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Years ago, I made the Beef Rendang recipe from James Oseland’s Cradle of Flavor. I think this was once the COTM on Chowhound. It is complicated, takes a long time (2 - 3 hours cooking time) and has some ingredients that can difficult to find.
Here is an online version that is almost identical to the recipe in the cookbook. It explains the long, slow technique of cooking it slowly until all the liquid evaporates, leaving the meat to saute itself, so to speak, in the remaining concentrated coconut and meat oil until it is "the color of roasted coffee beans. Oseland calls this a process “that inverts normal braising.”
The cookbook also says to use a shallow. wide skillet rather than a deeper braising stew pot so that the liquid is able to evaporate…the opposite of cooking a regular curry or braise.
I was able to get the lime leaves frozen, and the tumeric and galangal whole, fresh lemongrass, while substituting as suggested macademia nuts for the candlenuts.
We found it absolutely delicious and well worth the long cooking process on a day when I was at home and doing other things in the background. Oseland suggests serving it the next day at slightly warm temperature with yellow rice, cucumber and carrot pickle, and stir-fried Asian greens with garlic and chiles.
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This is the recipe in Saveur that I referenced above and it is delicious. I just made it a couple weeks ago. It’s true that some of the ingredients can be hard to source if you don’t have an Asian market nearby. But I did not think the recipe itself was complicated at all. Time consuming yes.
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