Sayur Lodeh is a well-known Indonesian dish originated from Java and made of various of vegetables. It is a perfect side dish to accompany rice or lontong/ketupat.
I remember how often my mom made this. My mom loved to make rice cakes wrapped in banana leaves and this sayur lodeh is one of the must dishes to accompany the lontong (rice cakes). A few vegetables that I like to put in my sayur lodeh are chayote (labu), cabbage, carrots, green beans, and baby corns. You can pretty much put whatever you like in there, but to me having those kinda represent sayur lodeh better 🙂
This sayur lodeh calls for spices and herbs such as turmeric (kunyit), galangal (lengkuas), candlenuts (kemiri), and bay leaves (daun salam). All these are very commonly seen in Indonesian culinary. Candlenuts are very difficult (or impossible) to find here in Minnesota. I have some because my mom brought me some from Indonesia. The closest nuts you can use to substitute is macadamia. Pretty neutral in taste, but have roughly about the same oil content. Candlenuts are widely used not only for cooking, but also for hair and skincare in Indonesia.
My mom usually grind huge bulk of coriander, turmeric, galangal, and candlenuts into paste and store them in the jars and freeze them for future use. This helps to cut down of prep time because I hate to be grinding just a small amount and I still need to wash the same amount of dishes whether I make large or small batch.
This sayur lodeh taste pretty light despite there is coconut milk. My mom usually doesn’t make this very spicy because we usually pair it with other spicy dishes like rendang sapi Padang, sambal goreng kentang, sambal goreng tempeh, etc. I believe if you give this sayur lodeh a chance, you might find yourself liking it.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH SAYUR LODEH
Sayur lodeh is very commonly serve with rice as part of a multi-course meal. It is an excellent base to serve with lontong cap go meh, lontong sayur medan, nasi sayur, and really pretty much other side dishes and entrees.
DID YOU MAKE THIS SAYUR LODEH RECIPE?
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Sayur Lodeh (Vegetables in Coconut Milk)
Ingredients
- 2 cups coconut milk shake the can before using
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil
Vegetables:
- ½ head of cabbage roughly chopped into about 2-inch pieces
- 2 large chayote peeled and diced into 2-inch pieces
- 100 gr canned baby corn drain off liquid
- 200 gr green beans cut into 2-inch length
- 1 large carrot peeled and diced
Herb:
Powdered Spices:
- 1 Tbsp galangal powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
Seasonings:
- 1 Tbsp Better-than -bouillon chicken base or use 1 cube chicken bouillon
- Salt and sugar to taste
Spices to grind:
- 5 candlenuts substitute with macadamia nuts
- 5 shallots peeled
- 5 cloves garlic peeled
- 3 cayenne peppers or use 1 Tbsp sambal oelek or more to your taste
Instructions
- Preheat a large pot with cooking oil. Add in the ground spices followed by powdered spices and bay leaves. Saute for about 5 minutes until fragrant. Add the chicken broth and better-than-chicken bouillon. Bring to a boil and then add in all the vegetables except for baby corns. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Cover and let the vegetables cooked until soft but not mushy
- When vegetables are cooked, add the baby corn, and coconut milk. Once you add in the coconut milk, take care not to let it boil as it will "break" the coconut and make it frothy. Cook for another 5 minutes. Have a taste and season with salt and small pinch of sugar to your taste. Serve as part of a multi-course meal
4 comments
Hi, I want to make a vegetarian version. Can I just replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth?
Hi Amirah, absolutely. This recipe is very forgiving and versatile! The vegetarian version will be just as delicious!
Thank you for this deliciously filling vegetable soup! My husband and I absolutely loved it. We served the sambal oelek on the side, but even so it was a tougher sell to my children. They ate it and enjoyed it, but weren’t begging for more as I was expecting them to. More leftovers for me!
Vegetables in coconut milk… this sounds and looks so delicious!