Balado Tempe (Indonesian Tempeh cooked in sambal sauce)

Tempeh (/ˈtɛmpeɪ/), is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form, similar to a very firm vegetarian burger patty. Tempeh is unique among major traditional soy foods in that it is the only one that did not originate from the Sinosphere cuisine.

It originated in today's Indonesia, and is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but it is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempeh's fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins. It has a firm texture and an earthy flavor which becomes more pronounced as it ages. Because of its nutritional value, tempeh is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine, where it is used as a meat analogue.

And because tempeh has become part of our people in ages, we have so many kind of menu variant made of this tempeh. Start from light snack until the main course with variety in process and spices. You will never boring with this full of nutritious meat substitute.

And this time I make Balado tempe (tempeh cooked in sambal sauce). Balado sauce it self can be used in many kind of ingredients such as potato, tofu, shrimp, eggplants, meat, eggs, and much more. You can adjust or reduce the spiciness this balado sauce according to your taste, but originally this balado sauce is pretty hot spicy like mostly Indonesian people's favorite (^,^)

Here the recipe.
Make about 4 shares

• about 500 gr raw tempeh, cut into small chunk (about 1 centimeters square)
• Enough cooking oil
• 2~3 kaffir leaves, roughly shredded/ slice in thinly pieces
• about 2 cm galangal, bruised
• 3~4 red chillies, seeded and thinly slice lengthwise

For Balado sauce, blend/ puree these ingredients:

• about 5~7 red chillies
• some birdeye chilli (according to your taste-mine is pretty hot spicy)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 5 shallots
• 1/4 tsp shrimp paste (terasi/ belacan)
• Salt about 3 tsp or to taste 
• pinch of sugar

This is my homemade tempeh.

How to make:

1. Fry tempeh chunk in enough hot oil (almost deep fry) in a wok until brown-reddish, drain well from excess oil, set aside.
2. Take the cooking oil from the same wok but leaving it about 2 tablespoons. Saute ground spices together with kaffir leaves, galangal, and chili slices for few minutes until aromatic and oily. 
3. Stir in fried tempeh chunks and about 3 tbsp water. Toss well to combine and cook for another 5 minutes for tempeh mingles with the sauce.

Note:
Other way to cook: you can skip process no.1 . Just mix tempeh chunk with all puree sauce and other spice then cook them directly ( method no.2 and 3)

Serve warm with steamed white rice

*********************************************************************************

Check my other YUM recipes:

İndonesian mix vegetables cook in coconut milk / Resep Sayur Lodeh

Pecel Tumpang (Indonesian sambal from tempeh)

Orek Tempe / Indonesian Sautéed tempeh with soy sauce

Resep Tahu Tek khas Surabaya (Surabaya style Tofu in peanut sauce)