Sayuran Kari Hidjau – Vegan green curry

I’ve discovered a new flavour ‘cheat’. Recently I invited vegan friends for dinner and discovered, to my delight, that Padang food is not difficult to adapt for vegan diets. Basically there’s no dairy in these recipes, unlike many Indian curries for example that use yoghurt and butter. So it’s just a case of substituting the meat/eggs with vegetables. I chose to serve a variation on Ayam Hidjau and Telur Belado.

The latter was a simple matter of replacing the eggs with grilled eggplant (aubergine) but the chicken curry, without the chicken, was tasting thin and insipid. Enter Chinese Light Mushroom Soy Sauce!

Of course normally I would never use light Chinese soy sauce of any kind in a Padang dish as it has a totally different flavour to the Indonesian soy sauce and anyway, this recipe has no soy sauce in it at all. But…..

So I made the basic green curry sauce exactly as per the recipe but omitting the chicken steps altogether instead adding a variety of chopped mixed vegetables to the sauce once it had thickened a little. Then the magic ingredient, a good dash of the light mushroom soy. This lifted the umami factor enormously giving a much fuller flavoured result.

Try it! And it’s probably worth considering this with other vegan dishes too. Who knows? I’m not a vegan but the result was delicious and I expect I’ll be dashing this into all kinds of vegetable dishes from now on.

Semur Daging – Soy Sauce Beef

This recipe makes a nice change as it uses sweet soy, tomatoes and sweet spices with beef, rather than chilli and coconut milk.  It’s simple to make, a favourite with kids and adults alike and is  a good complementary addition to a buffet spread.

Semur Daging – Soy Sauce Beef

This recipe makes a nice change as it uses sweet soy, tomatoes and sweet spices with beef, rather than chilli and coconut milk.  It’s simple to make, a favourite with kids and adults alike and is  a good complementary addition to a buffet spread.

Opor Ayam – White Chicken Curry

This delicious recipe is for a ‘white’ chicken curry. It is mild and creamy textured due to the kemiri nuts and has no chillis making it a favourite with us when we were children.

Opor Ayam – White Chicken Curry

This delicious recipe is for a ‘white’ chicken curry. It is mild and creamy textured due to the kemiri nuts and has no chillis making it a favourite with us when we were children.

Green Beans and Chicken Livers in Tauco

In this recipe green beans and chicken livers are cooked in an Indonesian spiced coconut gravy featuring Tauco – a soy bean sauce. Even people who don’t normally like chicken livers enjoy this mild side dish.

Green Beans and Chicken Livers in Tauco Sauce

In this recipe green beans and chicken livers are cooked in an Indonesian spiced coconut gravy featuring Tauco – a soy bean sauce. Even people who don’t normally like chicken livers enjoy this mild side dish.

Ayam Hijau – Green Chicken Curry

This recipe is for an Indonesian chicken curry that looks and tastes delicious but is very simple to make. Traditionally it should be hot like all Padang food but if you want it really mild leave out the birds eye chillis and use those big mild green peppers.  They’ll give it the colour without the heat.

Ayam Hijau – Green Chicken Curry

This recipe is for an Indonesian chicken curry that looks and tastes delicious but is very simple to make. Traditionally it should be hot like all Padang food but if you want it really mild leave out the birds eye chillis and use those big mild green peppers.  They’ll give it the colour without the heat.

Welcome to my recipe site

Throughout Indonesia, Padang Food is well known as the most delicious, and the most spicy, cuisine. It also happens to be the food my father grew up with in central Sumatra where Padang is the capital city.

When Dad migrated to Adelaide in South Australia he brought with him his mother’s recipes. Her handwritten pages were the kitchen bible in our house and eventually my mother, sisters and I all learned to cook the food of his homeland.  Though I never learned to read the original Minangkerbau dialect in which they were written, Dad has now translated these recipes for me. And I am pleased to be able to share them with you on this site.

These are not complex restaurant dishes. They are simple recipes,that my Nanak (grandmother) cooked regularly as everyday family meals.

Makanan dari Bapak means My Father’s Food. I hope you enjoy it.