Sambal Goreng Tempe / Fried Spiced Tempe

Tempe, the soul of Indonesia Culinary.
This is one of the food ingredients that almost every week is served on our dining table. When were abroad, many times it made us homesick when we missed it.

The easiest and most popular way to serve this excellent meat subsitute is frying. Slice it, soak with water and salt, then fry it. Or you can dip the slices of tempe in flour mix with salt (or with same spices) and water then fry it.

Want something flavorful and special ? Try our favorite dish here. After many-many times I cook this humble dish, I decided to upload the recipe in this blog. Need a bit more effort than just slice and fry, but trust me, no one can't resist this sweet and salty tempe dish.

To prepare the ground spices, like many other Indonesian dishes, we need to crush the fresh spices and root (galangal) to become coarse paste in a cobek (~mortar). You can use chopper to make the job easier, but I believe using a mortar is the way in which the spice paste is made effects the flavor of the dish, and the effort while crushing the spice; patient, powerful, slow, rapid, will give best flavor and texture for the dish.

After slicing and marinating the tempe, we need to 'half' fry it to make it firmer, tastier and creating an attractive golden color.

The sweet ending is mixturing. Start with frying the spices paste, herbs, lemongrass, chillies and pete' in the little oil that will release the flavor and fill the kitchen atmospher, also the whole house, with exciting aromas. Continue with mixing all remaining ingredients including the tempe. This time the soft cubes of tempe will absorb all the wonderful flavor of chillies, kecap, and spices.
Please, help yourself... get a plate, warm rice and Sambal Goreng Tempe.

For you who are not familiar with one of the famous ingredient in this recipe, let me introduce you with Pete' or bitter bean or some people call it 'stink bean'.

Sambal Goreng Tempe (Fried Spicy Tempe)
Bahan / Ingredients
400 gr tempe / 400 gr tempe (fermented soybean)
200 ml air / 200 ml water
1 sdt garam / 1 tsp salt
minyak untuk menggoreng / cooking oil
2 lembar daun salam / 2 salam leaves (Indonesian bay leave)
2 batang serai bagian putih, memarkan / 2 lemon grass, bruised
2 buah cabe merah, iris 1 cm / 2 red chillies, sliced into 1 cm pieces
6 buah cabai hijau, iris 1 cm / 6 green chillies, sliced into 1 cm pieces
20 mata petai, belah-belah / 20 petai ~green beans, sliced
250 ml kaldu/air / 250 ml stock/water
1 sdm kecap manis / 1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1/2 sdt gula pasir / 1/2 tsp sugar
75 gr daun melinjo muda, siangi / 75 gr melinjo leaves, cleaned
Bumbu halus / Spices (ground)
4 siung bawang putih / 4 cloves garlic
8 butir bawang merah / 8 shallots
1 sdt terasi / 1 tsp shrimp paste
1/2 sdt garam / 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cm lengkuas / 1/2 cm galangal
2 buah tomat / 2 tomatos

Cara Membuat :
1. Iris tempe ukuran 1x1x3cm, rendam tempe iris dengan campuran air dan garam (5-10 menit).
2. Panaskan minyak goreng dalam wajan. Tiriskan tempe dari air perendamnya, lalu goreng dalam minyak panas hingga setengah matang, angkat, tiriskan, sisihkan.
3. Panaskan 3 sdm minyak goreng dalam wajan, masukkan bumbu halus, daun salam dan serai. Tumis hingga harum, masukkan cabai merah, cabai hijau, dan petai. Aduk rata.
4. Masukkan tempe goreng, tuangi kaldu/air, tambahkan kecap manis, gula pasir, dan daun melinjo, aduk.
5. Tutup wajan, masak di atas api kecil sambil sesekali diaduk-aduk hingga semua bahan matang dan bumbu meresap, angkat.
6. Pindahkan sambal goreng tempe dalam wadah saji, hidangkan sebagai lauk nasi.

Method :
1. Slice tempe in 1x1x3cm size. Soak the tempe slices with a mixture of water and salt (5-10 minutes).
2. Heat oil in a skillet. Drain tempe from the marinate water, then fry in hot oil until half cooked, remove, drain and set aside.
3. Heat 3 tablespoons cooking oil in a skillet, put spices, bay leaves and lemon grass. Saute until fragrant, put the red peppers, green peppers, and petai. Stir well.
4. Add fried tempe, pour the stock/water, add sweet soy sauce, sugar, and melinjo leaves, stir.
5. Cover the pan and cook over low heat while stirring occasionally, until all ingredients are cooked and the flavors mingle. Lift up.
6. Move the sambal goreng tempe in food containers, serve as a side dish of rice.