SAYUR LODEH (Lontong Gravy)
      Background Notes & Tradition

        This dish is traditionally sold and served in the old-type coffeeshops by Malays in Singapore and Malaysia. However with the profileration of air-conditioned food centres, this dish has become part of the Nasi Padang stalls in these food centres. Standard of the fare served at these foodstalls and food centres are variable and cannot compare with the home-prepared version as many ingredients are left out of the commercially prepared dish and cooking methods are compromised.

        The Lontong dish (where the sayur lodeh are served with ketupat or lontong (rice cakes) is a traditional Hari Raya dish served for lunch on that day.

        For instructions and tips on ketupat weaving refer to Section 2 of this Homepage.

      SAYUR LODEH (Lontong Gravy)(serves 6)
      Recipe
      Ingredients:
      1.Cocunut Milk of one coconut (or use 1 to 1.5 packet coconut cream)
      2.1 cup Udang grago (or dried shrimps) (to be omitted if cooking a vegetarian dish)
      4. 10 cloves Garlic
      5. 10 shallots
      5. 1 large root of Blue ginger (lengkuas) -(crushed)
      6. 4-5 stalks of Lemon Grass (crushed)
      7. Chillie Oil (from sambal tumis)
      8. 10 pieces Lime Leaves (Optional)
      9. 5-6 Long beans (cut into about 2.5cm lengths)
      10 2 Brinjals (cut bite-size)
      11 One quarter Cabage (cut bite-sixe)
      12. 2=3 Fried Tahu squares (fried in oil and cut diagonally into two)
      13. 2-3 Tempeh (Fermented Soya Bean Cake cut in two )
      14. Glass noodles (optional)
      15 Vegetable Cooking Oil
      16 Salt to taste

      Garnish

      1.Serunding - for recipe see links below
      2. Sambal Tumis - for recipe see links below

      Method

      1. Blend in an electric blender items 2,3,4 in a thick paste.
      2. Fry the paste in some oil till fragrant.
      3. Add coconut milk diluted in some water (consistency and thickness of milk depends on preference); add in the lime leaves (optional), blue ginger and lemon grass.
      4. Bring to a slow boil and add in the vegetables, and cook till vegetables are tender.
      5. Add in the glass noodles if this is used.
      5. Add in the tempeh and the fried tahu pieces.
      6. (Optional) Add some chillie oil to give some colour to the gravy. This may be left out if a mild gravy is preferred as the chillie oil may make the gravy too chillie hot for some people to take.
      7. Serve hot in a large bowl as gravy for lontong (rice cakes- cut into rounds or squares). The sayur lodeh is laddled out into individual bowls or deep plates where the lontong pieces (rice cakes) are already arranged as a complete one-dish meal.
      9. Garnish with serunding and chillie tumis. The serunding is sprinkled on top and a teaspoon of the chillie tumis is also added on top of the dish or served in a small dish separately.

      Tips

      1.The secret ingredient which makes the ayur lodeh very tasty is the udang grago which is blended in the paste.
      2. The optional lime leaves gives the gravy that ethnic fragrance.
      3. The blue ginger and the lemon grass is a must as otherwise the sayur lodeh will not have that distinctive flavour which distinguish it from other dishes known generically as "sayur lemak".
      4. It is recommended that the tahu be fried before adding it to the gravy as this will enable the dish to keep better. The unfried tahy squares may be used but the gravy may turn sour much earlier and will not keep well if the gravy is to be kept overnight for another serving the day after. Generally sayur lodeh should be taken freshly cooked as the vegetable in the gravy does not keep well when frozen.
      5. Simarly, when tempeh is added to the gravy, the dish will not keep well overnight. It is suggested that the tempeh be kept separately if the dish is to be frozen for use on another day.
      7. When using the glass noodles be prepared for the gravy to be absorbed by the noodles - so do keep the gravy more watery than usual.
      8. The addition of the chillie oil addes colour to the gravy as this will float on top when served. If a mild dish is required this chillie oil should not be added at all.
      9. It is recommended that instead of cooking large quantities of the gravy for storage, the gravy paste may be prepared and frozen in a bottle for future use.
      10. Lontong(rice cakes) are sold at the market in cynlindrical shape (about 8" in length) wrapped and ready cooked in banana leaves). Alternatively, uncooked lontong packets are available from the supermarkets prepacked in plastic bags. All that needs to be done is to boil the plastic bags containing the uncooked rice (without taking the rice out of the plastic bags) until the rice cakes are cooked. Cool the rice packs before tearing away the plastic bages then cut the rice cake into pieces before serving with the lontong gravy.
      Links
      Sambal Tumis
      (Click here for recipe)
      Serunding (under construction)
      (Click here for recipe)