Lontong Sayur - Indonesian Cooked Vegetables in Coconut Milk with Rice Cake

Lontong sayur was one of the breakfast routine dishes when I lived in Bogor. A kind of breakfast that we can get from street food vendors with less price where you can add a protein choice such as boiled egg, beef or chicken. Due to the geographic area where I live now, it is impossible to get lontong sayur from street food vendors. Hence, it took me a while to make it.

In Indonesia, most vegetables that people use for lontong sayur are chayote, green long bean, green bean, young jackfruit, green pepaya, bamboo shoot and etc. In this recipe, I enhanced with bamboo shoot strips, petai (stink beans), shrimps, pieces of tempe and tofu.

Lontong is an Indonesian style of rice cake with log form. It is usually served at room temperature as an accompaniment sauce or curry-based dishes such as sate, gado-gado, opor ayam (braised chicken in coconut milk) or cooked vegetables in coconut milk. It very popular carbohydrate source for breakfast and usually accompany with cooked vegetables/meat in coconut milk. Do not be confused with ketupat. Though, it is made from rice but ketupat has a different form and wrapping materials. While lontong is wrapped in banana leaves, ketupat is wrapped in woven palm leaf pouches.

Traditionally, lontong is made by partly cooking or soaking raw rice, draining and packing tightly into a rolled-up banana leaf. The leaf packaging is fastened with bamboo picks and cooked in boiling water about 90 minutes or so. Once, lontong is cooled and solid, you can cut lontong into bite-sized pieces.

Ingredients:
500 g bamboo shoot strips
10 petai, sliced
250 g shrimps, peeled
1 tofus, cut each into 20 smaller pieces
1 block tempe, cut into small bite-sized pieces
2 lemongrass, bruised
3 cm galangal, bruised
2 Indonesian bay leaves
1 tsp ground dried shrimp (Indonesian: ebi)
2 pkgs cream coconut powder
1.5 L homemade shrimp stock*
lontongs, cut into bite-sized pieces
oil to stir fry

Spices to grind into a paste
6 shallots
3 cloves garlics
3 red chillies
3 candlenuts (Indonesian: kemiri)
1 tsp dried shrimp paste (Indonesian: terasi, Malay: belachan), roasted

Directions:
Preparation
*Homemade shrimp stock can be made ahead from shrimp heads and skins
1. In a pot, combine water, 1 tbsp sugar and bamboo shoots, cook until boiling, and drain.
2. Deep fry or bake tempe and tofu until done.
3. Combine shrimp stock and 1 package of coconut cream powder; stir occasionally. Bring to a boil and set aside.

Cooking
1. Stir fry spices paste/ground ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, add salam leaves, galangals, and lemongrasses, cook for another 1 minutes until fragrant.

2. Add stink beans, bamboo shoot, tempe, tofu and another package of coconut cream powder, stir until mixed.

3. Add shrimp stock and shrimp, stir and boil for another 5-10 minutes or until the shrimps are done.

4. Serve with lontong, sambal and kerupuks (any kind of kerupuks, either tapioca or shrimp ones).