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

Resep dalam Bhs Indonesia ada di bagian bawah













Selam.... Merhaba from Turkey....

You know, Indonesia has many many traditional food and each regions or city has their own typical food as well. 

And my today post is "Tahu Tek" , it's one of Indonesian traditional meal originally from Surabaya city-East Java. Tahu means tofu in Indonesian language. People call "tahu tek" maybe because the seller (mostly mobile traditional street vendor, we call it "gerobak") make a typical noise sounds  " tek..tek..tek..tek" very loud and shrilly along kampoong/ alleys. That sound comes from the wok clink with fork or spatula by the seller to get attention.

Surabaya is "the home" of "tahu tek" . You can find this food seller more than 2 or 3 sellers almost at the same time in same alley, it's different from in other city. You should go to a certain place where one seller have open a stall.

The typical of "tahu tek" is they use scissors instead of knife to cut everything during the serving with a very noisy sound they make...clak...clak...claakk. (^,^)

Another unique thing about this "tahu Tek" is they only sell this food only at night, in many kampoong/ alleys you probably can meet this "tahu tek" seller upper 8 or 9 pm. I have no idea why...but for me (also for my families) the taste would be different if you eat it at noon or morning... This tahu tek kick your appetite when it ate beyond 9 pm or even midnite! it's REALLY... ! So I call it "midnite snack" (^,^)

I am original from Surabaya..so I know almost everything about this my favorite food (^,^) 

poto sent by my sister

Mostly I stay a wake up to 1 or 2 am. With a kid around and never-ending housework night, time is my own time alone doing my own activity like updating my blog, check my email, my Facebook or browsing around to find interesting things or new recipes.

And wake up to this hour...your stomach will ask "midnite snack" (^,^) .... poor me... I can't find tahu tek seller across my alley here in Turkey....hahahahaha....

Here I got some tahu tek seller pictures from my sister in Surabaya. Actually, it was a lure photo to teased me... she said "our midnite snack today" .... goosshhh...

Poto sent by my sister

Alright, long story short. I made my own midnight snack today. It's more on answering "challenge" from my sister who sent me those pictures... Making this food is very easy actually. But since many complements should be prepared, most people in my homeland choose to buy it ready.

Easy because you can see how to make and what kind of ingredients they use.. right in front of you. You see those pictures start what ingredients the seller put in his mortar pestle, ground it finely to make the peanut sauce. And you can see how he fry tofu and others...also what kind complement ingredients he prepared for you... it's typical "street food show"

So here I write you the recipe how to make original Surabaya tahu tek. The main ingredients which gives taste of Surabaya is "petis udang" or shrimp paste. Shrimp paste in Indonesia is different from "shrimp paste" for making sambal. For making sambal we call it terasi/ belacan. Totally have different taste and form. You can see petis udang for making this peanut sauce lower picture here.

Ground the peanut. Lower picture is petis udang/ shrimp paste

Ingredients for making 2~3 servings

Peanut sauce:

• 200 gr raw peanut(*)
• 5~6 cloves of garlic
• about 2 Tbsp petis udang (shrimp paste)
• some birds' eye chili (as you like)
• pinch of salt
• 2~3 Tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
• 300~350 ml warm water (how thick your sauce as you like)
• Cooking oil 

How to make peanut sauce:

1. Heat enough cooking oil in the skillet, fry peanut until cook thoroughly, when peanut has almost done fry in garlic, stir fry for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove and drain the oil.
2. Put peanut, chilli, garlic with pinch of salt in mortar and pestle, ground them to make a 
3. puree, mix in petis udang and kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), mix them well.
4. Slowly and gradually add water while stirring them well. Add water to the thickness you liking. It should a bit thicker than normal water. Set a side.

(*) you can use roasted peanut too if you don't have raw peanut, just fry it 2 or 3 minutes together with garlic and birds eye chilli.

Other ingredients:

• lontong/ rice cake see how to make it here
• about 1 cube ( 300 gr) tofu, fry it
• Boiled potato, cut into chunk and fry few minutes
• bean sprout (short one), flush with hot water.
• shrimp crackers
• fried shallot for sprinkle
• cucumber pickles (optional)
• 2 eggs, make omelet with pinch of salt (optional)

Lontong / rice cake

How to serve/ plating:

On a plate (or banana leaf) use kitchen scissors to cut rice cake, tofu, and egg omelet. Arrange also potatoes, and bean sprouts. Then flush with peanut sauce. Sprinkle with fried onion.

Serve immediately with shrimp crackers and cucumber pickle.

*********

BAHASA INDONESIA:

Resep tahu tek.

Bumbu kacang:

• 200 gr kacang tanah goreng
• 5~6 siung bawang putih, goreng
• petis udang sekitar 2 sdm
• cabe rawit sesuai selera
• sejumput garam
• kecap manis sekitar 2~3 sdm
• air hangat secukupnya (sekitar 300~350 ml)

Bahan pelengkap:

• lontong (lihat cara membuat lontong a la saya disini)
• Tahu, goreng
• kentang rebus, potong kecil dan goreng
• telur, didadar dengan sedikit garam (optional)
• taoge pendek, siram air panas
• kerupuk udang
• bawang goreng untuk taburan
• Acar mentimun (optional)

Cara membuat saus kacang:

Goreng kacang tanah dan bawang putih. Haluskan kacang tanah, bawang putih, garam dan cabe rawit hingga halus. Masukkan petis udang dan kecap manis, aduk rata hingga petis udang bercampur rata dengan kacang tanah.

Pelan-pelan tambahkan air hangat sambil diaduk hingga semua tercampur sempurna, cicipi rasanya.

Cara menyajikan:

Potong-potong lontong, tahu, telur (jika pakai) dan kentang goreng. Tambahkan taoge pendek dan kerupuk udang yang diremuk kasar, siram dengan saus kacang.

Taburi bawang goreng dan sajikan segera dengan acar timun.