Tempe with Sweet Soy Sauce (Kering Tempe)

Tempe and Tahu (Tofu) are the most popular lauk or side dish in Indonesia. Basically tempe is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybean particles into a cake form. It originated from Indonesia, invented by the Javanese, where it is most popular, although it is common in other parts of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia as well, introduced by migrated Javanese.

It is especially popular on the island ofJava, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempe is made from soybeans, but tempe is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempe's fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber and vitamins compared to tofu, as well as firmer texture and stronger flavor.

Because of its nutritional value, tempe is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue. Even long ago before people found and realized the rich nutrition fact of tempe, tempe was referred to as 'Javanese meat'.

There are many kinds of dishes that could be made from tempe: tempe goreng (fried tempe); tempe mendoan (a kind of tempe cooking that is made from thin tempe, fried with spicy flour so as to taste deliciously piquant. Traditionally in the Banyumas territory, tempe mendoan was made from thin, wide tempe, one or two sheets cooked at a time); oseng tempe (sweet sauté tempe with vegetables) and kering tempe.

Kering tempe is a side dish, usually served with nasi uduk (rice cooked with coconut milk) or nasi kuning (rice cooked with coconut milk and some herbs / curcuma so that the color is yellow). The taste of kering tempe is tasty and a little bit sweet from the used of sweet soy sauce. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

250 gr tempe, sliced into small-long pieces

10 tablespoon cooking oil

3 tablespoon sweet soy sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Spices:

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thin

3 cloves of shallot, sliced thin

½ teaspoon pepper powder

2 kaffir lime leaves, sliced thin (optional)

3 red pepper, sliced thin (optional)

How to make it:

1. Fried sliced tempe with cooking oil until cooked perfectly, put aside.
2. Stir fry shallot and garlic until golden brown; add red pepper and kaffir lime leaves.
3. Put fried tempe. Add pepper powder, soy sauce, salt and sugar. Mixed until the spices absorb.
4. Served with nasi uduk or nasi kuning.

Some parts of this article are taken from wikipedia. Photos by moderator.