Thing is, most vegetarian fare that I've tried is pretty bland. The only vegetable-only dishes that I've had that are actually quite nice are from
Southeast Asia, mainly because we use a hell lot of different herbs and spices.
Here's a recipe for something in called 'Nasi Kerabu'.
image source: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/boo_licious/misc2/songkhlahawkernasikerabu.jpg
Nasi means cooked rice, and kerabu means vegetable mixture, so this dish means herbed rice salad. It's very good, and would make a nice dish for
a potluck or a picnic. We find the original version a little dry, so we've added 4 Tbsp. of vegetable oil to keep the salad nice and moist. You
want to serve this at room temperature, so make sure that you leave enough time for the rice, coconut, and fish to cool down completely before mixing
everything together.
We should admit that this is a Westernized version of the herb mixture. The herbs that we use are crazy and probably not available in the US. They
included long-stemmed mint (daun kesum), Asian pennywort (daun pegaga), aromatic ginger leaf (daun cekur), and wild pepper leaf (daun keduk).
Follow the link for the rest:
Nasi Kerabu
The recipe calls for dried fish, but it's not really necessary. I have mine without it, still tastes excellent.
Edit to add second dish:
Here's another local fare called 'Tahu Sumbat' which means "Stuffed Bean Curd"
image source: http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y75/hanieliza4/tahusumbat.jpg
The recipe can be found here:
Stuffed Bean Curd (Tahu Sumbat) with Hot House Cucumber &
Organic Lettuce
Delicious! You can serve this as an appetizer to the nasi kerabu main course
[edit on 11-11-2007 by Beachcoma]
