Sayur Lodeh (Vegetables in Coconut Curry)

Sayur Lodeh

Our friend came back from the States with a T-shirt (it says "Chicago") for each child while their mother as usual had nothing. But she will be patient, the longer she waits, the more long-suffering she will appear. And we went shopping again as a family today, this time the breadwinner needed a few new suits and shirts. And shopping with the Hub meant no shopping for me, as he's incapable of shopping on his own, I had to hang around him all the time, from helping him figure out which shops to go to, decide which suits to try on, find the right sizes, hold on to the hangers or his coat/sweater, mumble the "right" comments...Once his shopping done, it would be time to leave because Monsieur couldn't take it anymore.

The rest of the family had a pizza at Spizzico while I waited patiently to return home to finish up this morning's Sayur Lodeh. This is a Malay/Indonesian Vegetable Curry that I grew up on. I especially love eating cabbage, jicama and French beans in the spicy coconut broth.

I thought of making this today as the Rendang Roast Chicken was dry as was the Nasi Kuning. Besides, I had a beautiful head of cabbage waiting for me in the fridge and this weekend's vegetable to use up was French bean. Tomorrow we would have Thai Fish Cakes for dinner and that would use up some of the French beans. I know, I know...

Sayur Lodeh :

1 Onion

2-3 Garlic cloves

1 piece Ginger

1 Lemongrass stalk

1 piece Galangal

1 Tsp ground Turmeric

1 Tsp ground Coriander

1 Tsp ground Cumin

2 Tsp curry paste (e.g. Thai green curry; or grind shallots, garlic, ginger, chilli and belachan into a paste)

1 fresh Chilli

2 Kaffir lime leaves

1 Bay leaf

French beans

Potatoes

Red Bell Pepper

Carrots

Cabbage

Jicama

Zucchini

Plum or Cherry Tomatoes

1 piece Firm Tofu

Hard-boiled Eggs

400ml Coconut milk

200ml hot water

1 1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Palm sugar or white sugar

Fresh Coriander leaves

Roast grated Coconut

To prepare this dish, get all the ingredients ready first. Chop and dice the onion, garlic and ginger, slice the lemongrass and galangal, shred the kaffir lime leaves. Chop the vegetables so that the longest-cooking among them will need maximum 20 minutes to cook. Boil the eggs and peel them.

In a wok, fry the onion, ginger, garlic, lemongrass and galangal till fragrant. Add the dry spices followed by the curry paste.

Start with the vegetables that would require a longer cooking time e.g. French beans and potatoes. Sautée them in the spice paste.

Followed by the bell peppers and carrots.

At this point, add the chilli, lime and bay leaves. Then stir in the hot water. And the coconut milk.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the cabbage and jicama and simmer for another 10 minutes. Finally add in the zucchini, eggs, tofu and tomatoes. Stir in the salt, pepper and sugar.

Roast grated coconut

I always eat my Sayur Lodeh with roast grated coconut. Here we do not have it fresh, but I have some dessicated grated coconut in the pantry. Just heat up a frying pan on the fire and roast the grated coconut in it till it turns brown (keep an eye on it, stirring from time to time with a pair of chopsticks, as it can be very fast). Garnish the vegetable curry with fresh coriander leaves and the roast grated coconut.

It doesn't have to be vegetarian, of course. A few nice big peeled prawns would make the dish more complete.