Orek Tempe / Indonesian Sautéed tempeh with soy sauce

Sometimes we forget to appreciate things we already have until it gone

Selam Everybody..... merhaba from Turkey....

Today I'll post about something which recently become "treasure food" after I live in Turkey, it's tempeh. Yes, this healthy fermented soybeans becomes staple protein source for Indonesian people for decades as well as tofu. You will find tempeh in everyday menu in Indonesia, morning to night. Snack to main dish. We have many food variant made from this tempeh. We fry, steamed, braised, even grilled/ barbecue it.

I never made my own tempeh when I was living in Indonesia--no body does ^,^ . Many tempeh industries already provides tons of tempeh for us daily, fresh. So..here I am.. make my own "treasure food" here ^,^
Making tempeh seems easy... but you need some experiences to be succeed. You should maintain and care about temperature during fermentation, it should around 28 ~ 30 deg C. And most important thing to notice is cleanliness and hygiene during process, because spores of fungus Rhizopus oligosporus need hygiene environment to grow.

I made my own tempe since 2009 and failed twice or three times as I remember. Now making tempeh - Alhamdulillah- is no more fail for me. I even sell to some Indonesian friends here too... yes..practice make perfect..

So tempeh become part of our menu now here ^,^ . My kid likes it especially when it crisp fry...next time I'll share my "keripik tempeh" or tempeh chip... But for today post I'd like to introduce you one of tempeh recipe that my mom usually made for us. It's Sautéed tempeh with sweet soy sauce.... try it.you'll love it! ^,^

Make 5 shares
Ingredients:

• 500 gr tempeh, small cubes or rectangular 
• 3~5 red chilli, finely slice
• some birds eye chilli (as your taste), roughly slice. You may skip this if you don't want hot spicy taste
• about 2 cm fresh galangal, bruised
• 2 daun salam( bay leaves)
• 7~9 shallot, finely slice
• 5~7 garlics, bruised and finely chopped
• 2~3  Tbsp kecap manis/ sweet soy sauce
• 2 tsp tamarind paste*
• 1 Tbsp palm sugar (you can use dark brown sugar)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
• small amount of water (or thin coconut milk)
• enough cooking oil ( I use corn oil)

*you can substitute with 1 large tomato, roughly chopped
Note: sometimes my mom mix with fried tofu and small shrimps also

How to make:

1. Fry tempeh in enough cooking oil just until dry on it skin, drain and set a side
2. In same skillet, heat about 3 Tbsp cooking oil (from you fry tempeh before), saute shallot slices and garlic, stir fry until fragrant and transparent. Stir in bay leaves, galangal, all chilli saute for few minutes.
3. Add in fried tempeh and other ingredients (sweet soy sauce, tamarind paste, sugar and salt) add water (me; about 1/2 cup--you can add more if you want slightly gravy one). 
4. Toss to well combine. Cook for few more minutes until tempeh blend well with the spices, check the taste. The taste should have balance in sweet savory with slightly sour (not much) 

Serve warm or room temperature with warm steamed rice.

my homemade tempe

BAHASA INDONESIA

Bahan-bahan:

• 500 gr tempe, potong kotak atau memanjang
• 3~5 cabe merah keriting, potong serong tipis
• cabe rawit sesuai selera, potong serong tipis
• 2 cm laos, geprak
• 2 lembar daun salam
• 7~9 bawang merah, iris tipis
• 5~7 bawang putih, geprak dan iris halus
• 2~3  sdm makan kecap manis
• 2 sdt pasta tamarin (larutkan 3 biji asam jawa dengan sedikit air)*
• 1 sdm gula merah (atau sesuai selera)
• 1 1/2 sdt garam (atau sesuai selera)
• sedikit air (atau santan encer)
• minyak goreng

*bisa diganti dengan 1 tomat besar yang dipotong kasar.

Cara membuat:

1. Goreng tempe hingga kering kulitnya, tiriskan dan sisihkan.
2. Panaskan sedikit minyak untuk menumis bumbu-bumbu; masukkan bawang merah, tumis hingga harum dan layu. Lalu bawang putih, lanjutkan menumis hingga layu. Masukan daun salam, laos, irisan cabe sambil ditumis beberapa menit hingga cabe layu.
3. Masukkan tempe, dan bumbu lainnya, beri sedikit air (saya; sekitar 1/2 gelas--jika ingin agak basah bisa ditambah sesuai selera). 
4. Aduk-aduk agar bumbu merata. Masak beberapa menit hingga bumbu meresap dan air agak menyusut. Cicipi rasanya. 

Angkat dan sajikan hangat dengan nasi putih.