Vegetable Curry (Sayur Lodeh)

Howdy ya’ll!

Continuing on from the best side dishes to go with Nasi Lemak rice, today we will be making Vegetable Curry that is absolutely delicious with in my opinion, if you do not have Nasi Lemak rice, steamed white rice. Just imagine have piping hot white rice and ladling a big scoop of this Vegetable Curry over it and then adding a sunny side-up to top it off, YUMS!!!

Also called “Sayur Lodeh” in Malay, it is normally eaten with Lontong (compressed rice cakes) in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
With the meat aspect covered, today shall be about vegetables in order to balance that plate of rice and make a proper balanced meal!
This dish does require quite a fair bit of preparation work which mainly involves cutting up the variety of vegetables. You also need to prepare separately the Spice Paste in order to make the aromatic and delicious curry broth.

So without further ado, let’s dive right in!

Mixed vegetable stewed in a coconutty, spicy and aromatic gravy! DELICIOUS!!

Serves 6

Ingredients
1 packet (300g) deep fried tofu
1 cup sliced carrots
3 cups cabbage (about 1/4 of a cabbage), cut into 2 inch strips
2 cups green/long beans, cut into 2 inch lengths
2 eggplants (the long and slender type), sliced into 2 inch halves
2 pieces kaffir lime leaves, torn and crushed
4 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoon ikan bilis stock powder
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons chilli paste (made from dried chillies)
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 handful glass noodles, soaked in water until softened

Spice paste (blend finely):
3 tablespoons dried shrimp (rinse with water and drain, then leave for 15 minutes to soften)
2 medium onions
4 cloves garlic
1/2 inch ginger
1/2 inch galangal
1 stalk lemongrass, white part only (reserve the rest of the stalk to simmer separately in the broth later)
2-3 teaspoons toasted belacan (shrimp paste)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

Method

1. In a large pot, heat up the vegetable oil and fry the spice paste and chilli paste for 5-10 minutes. Add the kaffir lime leaf and reserved lemongrass stalk (the non-white part) and fry briefly. Add water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 1/2 hour.
2. Add coconut milk, ikan bilis stock powder, sugar and bring to a simmer. Do not let it boil vigorously. Season with salt and soy sauce.
3. Add the tofu and carrots, followed by the cabbage, long beans and eggplant. When it starts to simmer, cover with a lid and let it simmer for 15 minutes until vegetables are just cooked. Just before serving, add the glass noodles until it’s softened. Serve immediately with Nasi Lemak coconut rice or steamed white rice.

There you go! Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do! If it’s your first time visiting our food blog, do check out our various recipes from around the world and especially those that are uniquely Southeast Asia.

Cheers!

Glen