Eid-sy Peasy Lodeh

I'll admit it: while Hari Raya is a celebration to mark the end the holy month of Ramadan... one of the most highly-anticipated parts of the first day, for me... is FOOD. Are we surprised?

While I am a sweet tooth, and as such, my main priority for my Hari Raya binge eating is pineapple tarts... Eid simply isn't the same without my mom's lodeh.

Lodeh is a mild, coconut-based, vegetable-laden thin curry - it would almost be a vegan's delight if not for the use of shrimp paste. It's meant to be a mild curry because you often eat it with a side serve of spicy, heady rendang/prawn sambal/sambal goreng - by the time you're halfway through the meal, the gravy from these curries will seep into the coconut curry and flavour your lodeh. Additionally, most people eat lodeh with serunding - a spicy coconut floss. So you definitely want a mild lodeh gravy to complement the meal. 

That said, I LOVE lodeh. I am quite happy to drown my ketupat/lontong in lodeh and heap lots of veggies on my plate. In fact, I would happily eat this like a soup without rice, without accompaniments. I'd like to think that this is one of the rare ways I'm quite Malay - I am an absolute sucker for coconut milk based curries.

Mom's lodeh is significantly different from other lodehs - she calls her lodeh, Lodeh Kuah Putih, or White Lodeh. You see, most people add tumeric to their lodeh, which gives it a lovely yellowy hue. To be honest though, tumeric-tinged hue just isn't festive to me because it'll make your meal look like a bowl of lontong - which you can get for breakfast any day of the week. I know it's just a minor difference but I like my lodeh to be a bit special than normal lontong gravy. Heh!

Anyhoo, this is a super easy recipe. In terms of prep work, it's relatively simple in that you don't need to chop and blend a spice paste. Simply prep your veg and you're on your way. I was pretty stoked by how well my first batch of lodeh went.

Sorry, I don't have a photo of the batch I made. I was too hungry and only remembered to take a photo AFTER I'd gotten a second serve.


Lodeh Kuah Putih/ White Lodeh (A Work in Progress Recipe)

1 large spanish onion, sliced.
1 large green chilli, sliced at a diagonal
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 inches galangal, sliced and slightly crushed
2 stalks of lemongrass, tops cut off and bulbs crushed
2 Bay leaves
1 heaped tablespoons of pink belacan or fine shrimp paste (amount to be verified)
2 tablespoons of finely crushed dried prawns (amount to be verified)
1 can of coconut milk (amount to be verified)
Approx equivalent amount of water
Salt to taste (I didn't use any tho!)
1kg of your choice of "filling"

Filling options: 

• Cabbage, sliced
• Yam beans/bangkwang, peeled or cut into strips
• Bamboo shoots, cut into strips or squares
• Carrots, sliced at a diagonal
• Snake/long beans, cut
• Young nangka segments
• Potato, cut into chunks 
• Firm tofu, cut into squares or triangles and fried
• Tempeh, cut into thick chunks and fried

Method

1. Stir fry your onion, green chilli and garlic until soft. 
2. Lower the heat and add water and coconut milk.
3. Add your lemongrass, galangal, shrimp paste and crushed prawns. 
4. Add your fillings and boil until tender.

Notes

•  If you're in Singapore, you might want to use 2 onions - the onion I used was pretty huge. You essentially want about 1 and half to 2 cups worth of sliced onions.
• You may also substitute onions with shallots.
• I FORGOT the bay leaves when I first made this... and it still tasted pretty spot on.
• Depending on what you choose as your filling, you might have to add each element at different stages of the cooking process so that you don't overcook/undercook anything.
• Some recipes suggest using dried prawns and pounding in a mortar and pestle. However, I use powder fine, crushed dried prawns from my Asian supermarket. It just saves me the hassle of lugging out my giant mortar and pestle. It also incorporates itself into the gravy much easier. 
• It is IMPERATIVE that you use pink belacan or shrimp paste instead of the usual dark belacan - using the latter will give you a very dark lodeh... which defeats the purpose! lol