Lontong Sayur

This is one dish that screams breakfast to me, although I would gladly eat it any time of day. Buttermilk pancakes and Belgian waffles, move over!

Ingredients:

• 3 Coyote (Chayote) squash, julienne cut
• 2 chicken breasts, diced
• 2 fried tofu, diced
• 1 stalk of lemon grass, white part only, bruised
• 1 inch of Galangal, bruised
• 2 Indian bay leaves (use regular bay leaves if not available)
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1.5 liter of water/ chicken stock
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Spice paste:

• 6 shallots
• 5 garlics
• 7-8 red chili pepper (adjust accordingly)
• 1 tsp terasi (fermented shrimp paste)
• 7 candlenuts 
• 1 inch of turmeric

Put all ingredients for the spice paste in a mortar (or food processor) and grind together with a pestle until it forms a thick paste.

Directions:

• Heat oil in a dutch-pan. Add the spice paste and fry until fragrant. Add chicken pieces and cook until the chicken are no longer pink.
• Add coconut milk and the rest of the ingredients into the pot. Bring to boil.
• Reduce the heat and continue to cook until all of the meat and vegetables are cooked thoroughly and the soup turns oily from the coconut milk.
• Serve with rice cake, sprinkle with fried shallots, shrimp/fish/garlic cracker and additional hot chili sauce on the side.

Note: I, in fact, did not make my own rice cake from scratch. I am way too lazy to do so. So this is what I found in my neighborhood Asian store:

Not my own picture. I don't remember where I got it from but it had been sitting pretty in my computer's picture folder. Until now.

And for those who are not terribly familiar with Coyote/Chayote squash (different store has different spelling and pronunciation), here is the picture of the culprit:

Again, not my own picture. It was taken from this website.