Morning!

I meant to share this following recipe last night, but my bed lured me better than coming online ?

This is an Indonesian veggie soup which to be honest, since there are thousands of islands in Indonesia, there are tons of names for this veggie soup. So, I don’t know which is the original name, because in Borneo where my family live, people would only call it as “cassava leaf soup in coconut milk” (sayur daun singkong kuah santan), while the other islands have better (shorter) names such as “curried cassava leaf” (gulai daun singkong), “coconut milk soup” (sayur santan) –> although this one is so vague, Indonesia has tons of soups that are using coconut milk ?

Yes, the original soup, regardless the name, is using cassava leaf.

In Canada, obviously there isn’t cassava leaf, especially the fresh ones. I did find once or twice chopped frozen cassava leaf at a Filipino store (or maybe somewhere in Chinatown) back in Ottawa (capital city of Canada) many moons ago. So what do I use when I feel like eating this curried veggie soup?

Kale.

Not quite the same, but good enough.

There are various variety of this curried soups too btw. Some would add dry shrimps, quail eggs, chicken gizzard and hearts, some more with cubed tempeh or tofu. The recipe today is using deep fried ready to use tofu (find at Superstore Canada) AND split mung beans.

Now, when you hear or read the word of curry, I’m positive you are thinking of chicken or beef curry like flavored. Well not quite for this soup.

The spices used are almost as complete as when one is making meat curry, but also not so much.

We don’t use curry leaf/powder in this soup, but we have candlenut (candleberry/Indian walnut) as one of the important ingredients. You can find them online, I have never seen them anywhere in Canada (unless from an Indonesian/Malaysian vendor).

Unfortunately even they are supposedly from walnut family, you can’t use walnut as substitute. The soup taste different somehow ????

Ingredients

1/2 of an onion
3-4 garlic
3-4 candlenut
1 piece dried galangal
2 pieces Indonesian Salam leaf (online, if cannot find, subs with 1 small bay leaf)
1/4-1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1-2 tsp ground coriander
1 can of thick coconut milk
1-2 chayotte, grated/julienned (mine was frozen, so thawed if frozen)
1/2 of Chinese long beans, slice into sticks
1 bunch of kale, just the leaves
1/4 c split mungbeans
1 bag of ready to use deep fried tofu
2 tbsp olive oil
enough water
enough Vegeta powder, or 1 veggie cube, or sugar and salt to taste

How To

Process onion, garlic and candlenut into paste
Heat oil, saute paste, Salam leaf, galangal, coriander and turmeric powder, until fragrant
Pour in 1/2-1 c water, let it come to soft boil, on high heat
Pour coconut milk, add in veggies, cook covered for 5-8 mins, on medium heat
Stir in mung beans and season. Cook covered until veggies and mung beans soften
Drop in tofu and cook for another 2-3 mins
Serve warm with rice. Soooo good ?

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