Semuuk — Bali, Indonesia

Semuuk is a Balinese side dish of blanched vegetables, usually long beans, bean sprouts, and cabbage, tossed with grated coconut that has been seasoned with a fried base-genep spice paste, served at room temperature rather than hot. It is reported from Bali as part of the everyday and ceremonial spread of vegetable side dishes that accompany rice, sitting close to urab, the broader category of coconut-and-vegetable salads found across the island, sharing the same base spice paste as many of the island's other savory dishes. To prepare it, vegetables are blanched separately so each keeps its own texture, while shallots, garlic, chilies, and turmeric are ground into a paste and fried until fragrant. The fried paste is worked through grated coconut along with a little shredded lime leaf and salt, and this seasoned coconut is then tossed gently with the blanched vegetables just before serving, so it coats rather than cooks them further. Within the wider urab and lawar family of Balinese coconut-and-vegetable side dishes, semuuk is set apart mainly by its choice and cut of vegetables and by being mixed and served without further cooking once the coconut is seasoned, keeping the vegetables crisp rather than softened further in a sauce.