SAYUR lodeh or lemak lodeh is a rich coconut stew loaded with vegetables.
It is common for hardy vegetables such as carrots, long beans, Chinese eggplant and jicama to be used in this recipe as they tend to hold shape and not soften during cooking or reheating.
Add nasi impit or ketupat to sayur lodeh and you have the Javanese dish of lontong, which is popular in Johor.
I remember looking forward to having lontong for Hari Raya Aidilfitri at open houses hosted by neighbours and my Malay classmates during my childhood years in Kluang, Johor.
While it is common for side dishes such as serunding daging, serunding kelapa, rendang or kuah kacang to be served alongside lontong, my favourite is sambal ikan bilis for the spicy contrast it adds to the dish.
Since we enjoy eating sayur lodeh, it seemed wise to invest time learning how to make it.
Sayur lodeh is not a vegetarian dish because the recipe calls for dried shrimp.
Besides dried shrimp, one can add fresh prawns to elevate the flavour profile.
Ingredients for ‘sayur lodeh’.
There are recipes that call for glass noodles but I prefer leaving it out because it tends to soak up the liquid and thicken the soup.
Since this dish is made with thick santan, it is advisable to keep stirring the coconut milk during cooking to prevent it from splitting.
Sayur lodeh should not be too thick or too runny, but have a moderate consistency that makes it easy to eat with nasi impit or rice cakes.
If nasi impit or ketupat are not available, it can be savoured with regular rice.
Sayur lodeh
Ingredients
130g long beans
3 firm tofu blocks
300g tempeh
50g fucuk (soak in water)
150g cabbage
200g Chinese eggplant
200g carrot
150g jicama
3 red chillies
800ml thick santan
700ml water
2 tbsp salt
½ anchovy stock cube (if needed)
Aromatics, dried shrimp and oil blend into ‘bumbu’.
Spice paste
170g shallots
20g garlic
30g ginger
2 or 3 lemongrass stalks
40g fresh turmeric
60g galangal
6 candlenut kernels (soaked in 125ml water for 30 minutes)
2 or 3 fronds kunyit leaves
80g dried shrimp (soaked in 125ml water for 15 minutes)
Oil
100ml oil for spice paste
1 cup oil to deep-fry tofu
(reuse ½ cup to saute spice blend)
Thick coconut milk is added near the end for this rich stew.
Directions
Soak six candlenuts in water for about 20 minutes.
Also soak fucuk sheets in water until soft.
Peel and slice onions, garlic and ginger and set aside.
Clean and slice fine lemongrass, turmeric and galangal.
Add the onions, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, turmeric and galangal to a blender.
Next add dried shrimp with soaking water.
Either use a mortar and pestle to break the candlenut kernels or add to the blending jug straight away if soft enough.
Add 100ml of cooking oil and blend ingredients (referred to as bumbu in Indonesia) until smooth and set aside.
Cut tofu block into smaller bite-sized pieces, and long beans, carrots, eggplant, jicama and tempeh into 5cm strips.
Heat up a pan with one cup cooking oil, then deep-fry the tofu on high heat until golden brown.
In a deep pot, reuse half a cup of oil from frying the tofu to saute the bumbu over medium heat.
There is no need to use all of the spice blend, about ⅔ of the amount will do.
Stir constantly to prevent burning.
Saute bumbu until aromatic and oil splits.
Add 700ml water to the pot and bring to a boil. Alternatively instead of water, thin santan may be used.
Throw in the carrots, Chinese eggplant, tempeh, long beans, jicama, cabbage and fucuk.
Let the vegetables cook. Season with salt (according to taste).
Next add thick santan to the pot, keep stirring to prevent coconut milk from separating.
Add deep-fried tofu and turmeric leaves, and anchovy stock cube if needed.
Sayur lodeh can be savoured with nasi impit and either kuah kacang, ikan bilis sambal, serunding daging or serunding kelapa on the side.
