Sambal goréng tempe kering from Sunda, West Java


I simply adore sambal goréng tempe kering. When I was little and lived with my spoiling sundanese grandmother, I begged it to be prepared nearly every day. And now still, half a century and more later, I still love this sidedish that goes so well with simple javan food. Just well-cooked, almost stickyish white rice, preferably grown in the region of Sukabumi, some raw vegetables like cucumber quarters and kangkung slightly cooked, and sambal goréng tempe kering and a good place on the verandah with a nice view on faraway mountains and sawah is heaven to me.

Years ago I have concocted for myself an easy way to make it, and share herewith this recipe with who dares. It is mostly a play with steering the heat under your pan... can you do it or will it all burn or remain half cooked?



Ingredients:

raw tempe, about ½ of length you normally get; cut to regular pieces about

2 ½ x 2 x 1 cm

vegetable oil, some spoons full

brown sugar, idem

sambal ulek ready bought; amount to taste

leaves of salam, 3 or 4

some cuttings of laos, each ca 2 cm, 2 or 3

tamarind, cleaned and ready bought in a jar; like a thick sauce; ca 2 full spoons

crisp fried thin sliced onions, ready bought . About 1 ½ teacups full. If you cannot buy these ready made you’ll have much more work to do, sorry!



How to make:

Heat your clean frying pan. Put the oil. When hot, put the tempe-pieces in, and fry carefully as not to break them. Normally much more oil is used, but I try to use just enough oil as is needed to be absorbed by the tempe-pieces until crispy and done. Watch out for burning the lot!! Put superfluous oil away.

Have tempe now rest a while on flat plate.

Put off the source of heat under the pan.

Replace pan eventually to cooler zone on cooking area.

Now put in still hot pan some spoons of sambal ulek, brown sugar – be not too frugal! and salam leaves + laos cuttings; stir carefully, add tamarind, stir to a fluid thickish paste; have the sugar melt. Maybe you now have to heat the pan again somewhat. Carefull!

Put off source of heat.

Put the tempe , stir; and put the crisp fried onions and stir again. Have a try at the taste and add eventually some salt or more brown sugar.

Let cool off on wide flat plate .