Rich and creamy with a hint of spices, lontong consists of compressed steamed rice cakes soaked in a coconut milk vegetable curry stew. A dish commonly found in cafes, hawker centers and restaurants in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Cooked with a medley of vegetables, tempe, tofu, spices and coconut milk, it is a staple breakfast during Hari Raya. Turmeric is added to give the dish a beautiful shade of yellow. You can complement lontong with side dishes like serunding kelapa, begedil and sambal tumis to make it a hearty meal.
Here’s how to cook delicious lontong sayur lodeh.
Ingredients:
• 250g sengkuang or turnip – peeled and cut into strips
• 400g round Chinese cabbage – cut into bite sizes
• 100g long beans – sliced diagonally
• 80g carrot – sliced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1tbsp ground coriander
• ½ tbsp fish curry powder
• 500ml coconut milk
• 2tbsp chilli oil
• 3 pieces of tau kwa – cut into triangles and deep fried
• 3 ketupat or compressed rice cakes
• 6 hard-boiled eggs
• 60g serunding
• 500ml water
• Palm sugar and salt to taste
To blend for lontong paste
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 4 shallots
• 1 ½ stalk lemongrass – sliced
• ½ slice galangal
• 150g anchovies
Method:
- Fry the lontong paste in a deep pot with some oil until fragrant.
- Add in the ground coriander, fish curry powder and bay leaves and fry for a minute. Add in water and chilli oil, mix well and bring the mixture to boil.
- Add the vegetables and cook till the vegetables are cooked to your desired texture.
- Season with sugar, salt and ikan bilis powder to taste. Add in coconut milk, stir as your pour so the mixture combines evenly.
- Turn off the heat when the mixture thickens and then add in the tau kwa.
- Pour the gravy over the rice cakes and garnish with egg before topping with serunding and sambal. Serve your lontong hot.