Sayur Lodeh, truncated version

This dish is a last minute decision. With the hot, hazy weather, I intend to hole up at home and enjoy a home cooked meal of all things Malay. What better way to use up that half a head of cabbage than to cook some Sayur Lodeh. It has all the ingredients highly approved by the family - tofu, cabbage, carrot. The full blown version includes long beans and turnips which is lacking in my actual cooking due to zero inventory.

The challenge,however, is in making the rempah. Though lacking lemon grass and ginger, the following rempah ingredients still scored a high rating. It was so good I reserved the leftover gravy for a Lontong dish the next day!

The rempah takes a little more effort but the cooking part is plain sailing. Make additional rempah before hand to keep in the freezer for the occasional sayur lodeh or lontong fix.

For 3 :
Vegetables -
1 C cabbage, cut to bite size
1 carrot, cut to wedges
2 pieces tofu, cut to triangles
10 tofu puffs
1 C long beans
1 C turnip, cut into sticks

Sayur Lodeh Rempah -
1 t tumeric powder
1 t chilli powder
1 medium size onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic
2 t belachan
1 handful dried shrimps, soaked in hot water

Pound all of the above into a paste.

Fry tofu ( optional ) until it is has a nice crust. This prevents it from breaking when it is reintroduced into the vegetable curry.

On low heat, fry the rempah until fragrant, taking care not to burn it. Add 2 cups of water and 5 tablespoons of coconut milk. Add the cut vegetables and tofu when the curry starts to boil. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. The curry should be served hot ( with rice or rice cakes ) and leftover curry should be discarded or frozen if meant to be reused.