Eat Healthy and Cheap
Sayur Lodeh, Coconut-Free
Sayur lodeh is an everyday Javanese vegetable stew, built from whatever vegetables are in the market that week and held together by a light, savory broth that traditionally leans on coconut milk for body. Blended raw cashews do that same job here, giving the broth weight and a faint sweetness without the saturated fat load of coconut milk, while a wet sauté, cooking the shallot-galangal-turmeric paste in its own steam instead of oil, keeps the base flavor exactly where a fried paste would put it. The dish holds together on grocery-store vegetables: eggplant, long beans, cabbage, and carrot, so a weeknight version needs nothing more exotic than a produce aisle and a blender.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Raw cashews, soaked in hot water 15 minutes, drained
- 3 Shallots, peeled
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1 tbsp Galangal, peeled and grated
- 1 stalk Lemongrass, bruised and tied in a knot
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 1 Thai bird chile, thinly sliced, or to taste
- 1 medium Fresh tomatoes, chopped
- 10 oz Eggplant, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 6 oz Long beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 large Carrots, sliced on the diagonal
- 8 oz Firm tofu, pressed and cubed
- 3 cups green cabbage, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp no-salt vegetable bouillon
- 1 Lime, juiced
- 1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped, for garnish
Method
- Cover the cashews with hot water and soak at least 15 minutes while you prep the vegetables. This is what makes the broth creamy later without a drop of coconut milk.
- Blend or pound the shallots, garlic, galangal, and half the chile with 2 tbsp water into a coarse, wet paste.
- Warm a heavy pot over medium heat with 2 tbsp water. Add the paste and turmeric and cook, stirring often and splashing in more water a tablespoon at a time whenever it threatens to catch, about 6 minutes, until the raw shallot smell turns sweet and the color darkens. This wet-sauté does the same job frying in oil would: it drives off the harsh raw edge and concentrates the aromatics.
- Add the lemongrass, tomato, vegetable bouillon, and 3 cups (720 ml) water. Bring to a bare simmer and cook 8 minutes so the broth picks up flavor from the tomato and lemongrass.
- Add the eggplant and carrot, which take longest, and simmer 5 minutes.
- Add the long beans and tofu and simmer 5 minutes more, until the beans are crisp-tender and the tofu has taken on the broth's color.
- Drain the cashews and blend with 1 cup (240 ml) fresh water until completely smooth, 1 to 2 minutes on high. A short blend leaves grit; a full two minutes is what gives you cream instead of cashew soup.
- Stir the cashew cream and cabbage into the pot. Simmer gently, never at a hard boil, 3 to 4 minutes, until the cabbage wilts and the broth turns pale gold. A hard boil is what splits cashew cream, the same way it splits real coconut milk.
- Remove from heat, fish out the lemongrass stalk, and stir in the lime juice. Taste, then add the remaining chile only if you want more heat. Ladle into bowls and scatter cilantro on top; serve with a whole grain like brown rice to catch the broth.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 235 calories, 11 g protein, 9 g fiber. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt.
