Lemak

Here's a recipe of something I enjoyed as a kid. It's a Peranakan (straits-born Chinese) vegetable stew recipe that I cannot find anywhere. The closest I can describe it is that is similar to sayur lodeh (an Indonesian vegetable stew). Managed to reproduce earlier this week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Nothing beats being brought back to the good old days of mum's cooking. The smell and the taste of childhood!

Here's the recipe:

Vegetables

Ladies finger - 4-5 (cut slanted) can consider fry first to remove the sticky secretions and put aside

Long beans - 5-6 (cut into 3cm lengths)

Brinjal - 1 (sliced)

Cabbage - half a cabbage (choose Chinese Beijing cabbage as it cooks and soften better)

Tempeh (fermented soya bean slabs) - 2 pieces( sliced into 3cm width, fry first and put aside)

Taukwa (soya bean slabs) - 2 pieces (cut into 4 pieces diagonally - sprinkle with a bit of salt and fry till golden brown), then set aside

Others (depends on own taste) - 1 carrot

Rempah (Spice mix)

Dried chilli - 7-8 pieces (soaked and cut up)

Fresh red chilli - 5-6 pieces (cut up)

Buah keras (candle nut) - 3-4 nuts

Kunyit (turmeric) 1 small piece

Onions/ shallots - 8-9 pieces

Belachan (fermented dried shrimp slabs) - one small piece (toast it over fire to make it more fragrant)

Heh bee (dried prawns) - 1-2 tablespoon (soaked in water to make it soft)

Others

Fresh prawns - 8-9 prawns

Heh bee (dried prawns) 2 tablespoons (soaked in water to make it soft and then drained off)

Water (or chicken stock) - enough to fill pot - should be about 2 litres at least

Coconut milk - 1 sachet (can also squeeze from one coconut or use 1 packet ready made coconut milk)

Salt to taste (or if preferred 1 cube of Chicken stock)

Cooking Oil (can mix with a bit of sesame oil if desired, but I prefer not)

Preparation of Rempah

Put everything into grinder, add a little water and grind. You have a choice to decide how fine you want to grind it. For me, I like it fine.

Cooking

Heat oil, fry the dried prawns to draw out the taste. Should take about 15-30sec. Then put in rempah when hot and stir fry till it dries up. This is also to caramelize the shallots. Add in the hard vegetables (eg cabbage, ladies fingers and long beans) and continue frying before adding water/ chicken stock. Bring to boil, add the softer vegetables, tempeh, prawns, taukwa (basically add everything else) and let it simmer. Finally, add the coconut milk, bring to boil and prepare to serve. Add salt or soya sauce to taste.

Tip 1: if using fresh coconut, use the thin second round coconut extract first, bring to boil, add the first round thick extract, bring to boil and then serve.

Tip 2: If you want to have the flexibility to adjust the spiciness, you can consider removing a small portion (say 1/4) of the rempah after frying it. Continue with the cooking and add/ adjust accordingly to suit your liking after you have added the coconut milk.