Belacan vegetable

[KennethT]

This is a popular vegetable treatment in Singapore and Malaysia - vegetable stir fried with a lot of shrimp paste.  It's super savory and quite addictive.  Typically it's made using kang kong, aka water spinach or morning glory. Pak boong in Thailand.  It's hard to get here unless I go to Chinatown, but I commonly make it with baby bok choi.

 

1 pound vegetable, raw.  If using bok choi, separate the stem from the leaves. Cut the leaves in 3-4" pieces and the stem into 1" lengths.

 

rempah:

6-7 small shallots

5 cloves garlic

3 fresh long red chilli

2 fresh red Thai chilli

1T toasted* belacan (preferably the Malaysian kind)

 

3T dried shrimp soaked for about 20 minutes, then drained

 

1. Pound the rempah ingredients in a mortar or in a food processor until moderately fine and set aside

2. Roughly chop the drained dried shrimp then fry in some enough oil to basically deep fry until fragrant and crispy - remove the shrimp and drain on paper towel, reserving the oil.  You can use some of the oil to fry the rest but you won't need it all - keep it in the fridge (strained first) and you can reuse over and over.

3. Using a few Tablespoons of the reserved oil, fry the rempah until very fragrant and the oil starts to seep through

4. Add the stems and stir fry for a short while

5. Add the leaves and about 1/4C water and stir fry until the leaves have mostly wilted

6. Add the fried dried shrimp and toss through

6. Taste and season as necessary with a little salt and a little sugar (maybe 1/2t?) if needed

 

[Tropicalsenior]

Although there isn't a chance in a Million that I could recreate any of your dishes here in Costa Rica, I enjoy reading them. Your repertoire is amazing and I do so admire your attention to detail in recreating the food that you love.

In the late sixties I had an Indonesian neighbor and I saw the frustration that she went through trying to recreate the dishes that she grew up with.

You are lucky that you live in New York and are able to find what you do.

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to post the recipes.

[KennethT]

10 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Although there isn't a chance in a Million that I could recreate any of your dishes here in Costa Rica, I enjoy reading them. Your repertoire is amazing and I do so admire your attention to detail in recreating the food that you love.

In the late sixties I had an Indonesian neighbor and I saw the frustration that she went through trying to recreate the dishes that she grew up with.

You are lucky that you live in New York and are able to find what you do.

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to post the recipes.

Yes, I sympathize with your ex-neighbor - many times my local store is out of the fresh large red chillies - you can substitute dried (after soaking) and it's similar but not the same.  But yes, I'm lucky that everything else is easy to get, although I admit that I got my last block of belacan from Amazon when my local store in Chinatown stopped carrying the brand I like.

 

Also, I hate to admit that my posting of these recipes is more selfishly motivated - I almost never write recipes down - they're all in my head, so when I make things more than once, it's typically a little different each time.  Lately, when I get a version I'm happiest with, I throw it up here - now I've got a record of it, and if anyone else wants to read it it's just a bonus.  Although I have to say that I don't remember seeing anyone else post a photo of them making any of the recipes I've put up in any of the dinner or lunch threads!

[Tropicalsenior]

2 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Although I have to say that I don't remember seeing anyone else post a photo of them making any of the recipes I've put up

Let's face it, you and your recipes are unique. But yes, it is a great way to make sure that they will be here forever for you. Too many other recipe platforms have crashed and burned. Personally, I use Drive to save my recipes but who knows if it will be there forever.