Sayur Asem
Prep Time:
Serves
Ingredients
To make spice paste:
- 10 red chilies
- 1 large shallot (about 75 g)
- 3 garlic cloves
- 5 candlenuts (or macadamia nuts)
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger (about 1” piece)
- 2 tbsp galangal, fresh or frozen (about 1” piece)
- 1 1/2 tsp fish sauce
To make soup:
- 1.5 L / 6 cups water
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp tamarind paste/juice*
- 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
- 8 daun salam (bay leaves)**
- 1/3 cup coconut palm sugar
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
Add to soup:
- 1/2 lb (about 225 g) green cabbage, cut in 1/2” squares
- 1 lb (about 454 g) zucchini, diced in quarter moons
- 1/4 lb (about 100 g) green beans, cut in 2” pieces
- 1/4 lb (about 100 g) kale, cut in thin strips, or spinach
- 2 ears corn, cut into 8 sections
- 16 grape tomatoes, halved, or 2 medium tomatoes, quartered
INGREDIENT NOTES
* Tamarind can be purchased as a paste that is essentially ready to use or in a block of dehydrated pods that requires rehydration and deseeding. To rehydrate tamarind, mix a chunk of your block with half a cup of boiling water. When cool enough to touch, use fingers to massage the tamarind in the hot water to make tamarind paste/ juice and remove pulps and seeds.
** Daun salam is a very specific bay leaf and according to multiple recipe sources, can’t really be substituted for laurel bay leaf in this recipe as the leaf can leave a bitter taste. My suggestion would be to omit or reduce the amount of bay leaf to less than half (2-3 leaves).
Created By
Prepared by Kimi Abdullah, co-Founder of Petojo Food & Catering Follow on her on Instagram @kimiabdullah & Tumblr @kimieats Find Petojo Food & Catering on Instagram and Facebook @petojofood For catering inquiries, email kimi@petojofood.com or call 519 488 0316
Directions
Refreshing and comforting, this soup is typically served as a part of a larger menu with rice, fried chicken, tofu or tempeh, salad, and krupuk (crackers). The key to this soup is cooking your vegetables for the right length of time to avoid mushy or colourless results. If you’re looking for a lighter meal, enjoy this alone or with cup of steamed jasmine rice.
- To prepare spice paste: Place all the ingredients in a food processor and purée until fine and smooth. Use 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to loosen mixture if it’s too dry to purée.
- In a large pot, boil water over a medium-heat. Once boiling, add spice paste, tamarind, lemongrass, bay leaves, sugar, turmeric, salt and white pepper. Let simmer until fragrant, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add cabbage and let cook until translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add green beans, zucchini and kale, cook for 2 minutes. Add corn and tomato, cook for 3 minutes. If using spinach, add for the last minute.
- Remove from heat. Season to taste.