Malaysian Creamy Coconutty Veggies (VG) from Simple Family Feasts
“The traditional form of this dish, sayur lemak, which literally translates as ‘fatty vegetables’, could easily be a little deceptive for a vegetarian, as it’s often cooked with a generous spoonful of belacan (toasted shrimp paste) in the sauce. So here I’ve swapped out the shrimp paste for crispy fried onions to keep that essential boost of savoury flavour while making it vegan. Alternatively, if you aren’t cooking for someone vegetarian, just replace the crispy fried onions with 1–2 teaspoons of belacan to transform the recipe back to its original flavours. In which case, you may as well throw in some raw peeled and deveined tiger prawns for the last 3–4 minutes of cooking for a little extra texture, too.” Jeremy Pang, author of Simple Family Feasts
4–5 lime leaves
400ml (14fl oz) coconut milk
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
350ml (12fl oz) vegetable stock
200g (7oz) kale (swapsies: cavolo nero or large spinach leaves)
200g (7oz) green beans, trimmed
Vegetable oil
Sea salt
Spice paste
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5–6 dried red chillies, soaked in hot water for 10–15 minutes, then drained and finely chopped
1 lemon grass stalk, trimmed,
bruised and finely chopped
4 tablespoons ready-made
Crispy fried onions or shallots
Pound the spice paste ingredients together using a pestle and mortar, adding them one at a time, or blitz them in a food processor to form a smooth paste (you may need a tablespoon of water).
Build Your Wok Clock: Start at 12 o’clock with the spice paste, followed by the lime leaves, coconut milk, sweet potatoes, vegetable stock, kale and lastly the green beans.
Heat 1–2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large saucepan to a medium heat. Add the spice paste, stir through the hot oil and fry for 4–5 minutes until aromatic and deeper in colour. Add the lime leaves and stir, then pour in one-quarter of the coconut milk, mix it into the paste and bring to a boil. Add another quarter of the coconut milk and again bring to a boil. Then add the sweet potatoes, fold through and allow the sauce to bubble up over the sweet potato pieces for 4–5 minutes. Pour in the rest of the coconut milk and bring to a boil once again, then add the vegetable stock and simmer for 20–25 minutes until the sweet potatoes are cooked through, reducing the heat if it begins to boil too vigorously. Once the sweet potatoes are tender, add the kale to the curry and cook for 3–4 minutes, then add the green beans and cook for 3–4 minutes until they are just tender. Season with sea salt to taste and serve.
