Recipes with Palm sugar
19 recipes
There are 19 recipes here that use Palm sugar, and every one of them is scored against what is actually in your fridge before it is shown. The quickest is Stir-Fried Water Spinach with Shrimp Paste at 10 minutes; the longest, Sweet Braised Tofu and Tempeh, takes 60. 4 of them finish in twenty minutes or less, which is usually what matters on a weeknight.
None of these need an oven, an air fryer, or a microwave — a stove and a pan is enough. 9 are vegetarian. 3 have no chili at all, so they work for children. 13 are properly spicy.
Palm sugar turns up most often alongside Red chili, Tomato, Indonesian bay leaf and Galangal — if you have one or two of those as well, more of this list becomes cookable tonight rather than after a shopping trip. Add what you have to your fridge and the recipes reorder themselves around it, with anything missing collected into a shopping list.
Stir-Fried Water Spinach with Shrimp Paste
Five minutes in a hot wok. One secret only: never put a lid on it.
⏱ 10 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Sweet Crisp Tempeh
Sweet, dry, and keeps for three days. The cheapest rice companion there is.
⏱ 25 min🍽 4 servingsEasy
Tempeh with Green Chili
The fresh heat of green chili, not the sharp kind. The tempeh stays tender, never fried dry.
⏱ 20 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Tamarind Vegetable Soup
Sour, refreshing, and packed with vegetables. The best way to clear seven leftovers at once.
⏱ 35 min🍽 5 servingsEasy
Vegetables in Coconut Milk
Gentle coconut richness. Never cover the pot after the coconut milk goes in — it will split.
⏱ 35 min🍽 5 servingsMedium
Chicken in White Coconut Curry
Pale gold, rich, and fragrant with spice. The key is frying the paste until genuinely cooked.
⏱ 1 h🍽 5 servingsMedium
Spicy Potato and Chicken Liver
The potato is diced small and fried crisp first — that is what separates it from the soggy version.
⏱ 40 min🍽 5 servingsMedium
Eggplant in Chili Paste
The eggplant is flash-fried in hot oil so it does not soak up oil like a sponge.
⏱ 25 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Sweet Braised Tofu and Tempeh
Slow-braised in palm sugar until it soaks through, then briefly fried.
⏱ 1 h🍽 5 servingsEasy
Fried Catfish with Shrimp Paste Sambal
The sambal is pounded, not blended. It comes out coarse, and that is exactly right.
⏱ 30 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Long Beans with Crispy Anchovies
The anchovies are fried separately so they stay crisp on the plate. A cheap dish that does not taste cheap.
⏱ 20 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Fried Catfish with Tomato Sambal
The sambal is fried, not raw — that is what makes it keep until tomorrow and taste deeper.
⏱ 30 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Prawn and Petai Sambal
Hot, pungent, and not for everyone. The petai gets only a brief fry so it stays crunchy.
⏱ 25 min🍽 3 servingsMedium
Peanut Sauce
The peanuts are dry-toasted, not fried. Toasting gives a roasted aroma that hot oil cannot imitate.
⏱ 25 min🍽 6 servingsEasy
Simple Gado-Gado
Boil the vegetables separately, not together. Each has its own timing, and combining them gets all of them wrong.
⏱ 35 min🍽 4 servingsMedium
Green Beans with Crispy Anchovies
The anchovies are fried separately and added off the heat. Cooked with the vegetables they go soft in two minutes.
⏱ 18 min🍽 3 servingsEasy
Banana in Palm Sugar Coconut Milk
The coconut milk goes in last and must never boil hard. Once it splits, there is no fixing it.
⏱ 30 min🍽 4 servingsEasy
Anchovy and Peanut Sambal
Keeps a week in a jar and rescues a lot of lunches. The anchovies and peanuts must be bone dry before they meet the sambal.
⏱ 30 min🍽 8 servingsEasy
Shredded Spicy Chicken
Keeps three days and goes with anything: rice, bread, or as a filling. Shred the chicken while warm so the fibres come apart easily.
⏱ 40 min🍽 5 servingsEasy