Lontong Sayur Medan

There are several versions of Lontong Sayur in Indonesia. Lontong Sayur Padang, Lontong Sayur Betawi (ketupat sayur), Lontong Sayur Medan, to name a few.  The one I showed here is the Medan version.

Lontong Sayur Medan has unique flavour of taoco (fermented soybean) and kecombrang (ginger flower).

The two special ingredients could be part of the lontong sayur itself, cooked along other spices and vegetables (chokos and snake beans), or as part of the complementary dish - usually tempeh and ikan bilis dish.

The coconut soup supposed to be quite light and watery, not as thick as curry. This way you won't find it too heavy (and you can have as much as you want).

When I cook this dish I intentionally make the soup not too hot so my daughter can have a try. The tempeh and ikan bilis are hot to my husband's taste, although not as hot as the original version we tried in Medan. There they use bird's eye chili, sooo hot it makes you cry! (but want more).