Something I’ve eaten a lot in Indonesia is Cap Cay. This dish is nothing more or less than fried vegetables in a very tasty sauce. It certainly belongs to my favorite Indonesian dishes together with Indonesian Rendang.
When you order this dish in Indonesia, you often get the choice between Cap Cay Goreng (fried) and Cap Cay Kuah (sauce/soup). I prefer Cap Cay Kuah of which I share the recipe below.
Cap Cay is often made with chicken or with seafood, but I prefer to eat without any of those. That’s why I share the vegetarian version below. If you would like to add meat or fish, add them after frying the garlic, onion and pepper. Steamed white rice is of course served together with this dish.
You can actually put in all kinds of vegetables that you like, but a traditional Cap Cay contains the following ingredients. The recipe is very simple and is finished quite quickly. The preparation still takes the most time.
Cap Cay Recipe
Ingredients (for 2 people)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 0.5 red pepper
- 1 onion
- 100 grams of carrots
- 100 grams of green beans
- 100 grams of Chinese cabbage
- 100 grams of mushrooms
- 300 ml stock (of your choice)
- Fish sauce
- Oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Sesame oil (optional)
- Maizena
- Cooked/steamed rice
Instructions Cap Cay
Chop the onion and garlic and cut the red pepper into small rings. Slice the carrots, the green beans into smaller pieces, the Chinese cabbage into pieces and the mushrooms into slices. It’s not necessary to pre-cook the vegetables, because they are being cooked during the making of the sauce. However, cook the rice according to the package instructions.
Heat a splash of (wok) oil in the pan. When the pan is hot, add the sliced garlic, onion and red pepper. When this is fried, add the chopped carrot and green beans and fry for a while. Next add the chopped Chinese cabbage and mushrooms and fry them. Stir regularly.
When everything is a little bit fried, add the stock with a splash of fish sauce, oyster sauce and a tablespoon of sugar. You can also add a dash of sesame oil. Keep stirring and tasting and add more sauce, sugar or salt as desired.
Make sure the vegetables are cooked. Finally, make a paste from 1 tablespoon cornstarch and some water. Pour into the boiling mixture while stirring to thicken the sauce.
Serve with cooked/steamed white rice.
