The wonderful thing about living in Singapore is that you grow up with a crazy medley of all kinds of street food – think of Chinatown, little India and Malay kampung celebrations all rolled into one. You have an unerring instinct to tell the best pratha, nasi lemak or wonton noodles. The tastes are deeply embedded in your food memories.
I’ve always loved Nasi Padang – it’s a series of precooked dishes to go with rice, very similar to Chinese style ready cooked food stalls that we call “cai fan” 菜贩 that means vegetable rice. Nasi Padang is supposed to come from Padang, from West Sumatra. Traditional dishes include beef rendang (a dry curry with coconut), tahu telur (a delectable fried egg and tofu tower with a sweet sauce), and a dizzying array of chicken and fish curries. One of my all time favorites is a very unassuming vegetable dish called Sambal Goreng. “Sambal” is a chili paste that is typical in Malay and Indonesian cuisine, and “Goreng” means “fried”. Actually what’s fried together is the spicy chili paste, firm tofu and tempeh and long beans.
It’s been a new season having working adult children. Kid#1 has been having business trips to Indonesia and he was bringing back bags full of crackers that were unfortunately too snacky and tasty and doing no good to our waistlines. So I asked him to buy fresh tempeh instead – Indonesian tempeh tastes way better than Singapore tempeh and I absolutely adore anything tempeh. NYTimes has an awesome recipe featuring tempeh in a wild mushroom fricassee. Kid#2 adores this and it features on our dinner table ever so often. But I had so much tempeh at hand so I decided to make sambal goreng instead.
This recipe is not difficult but illustrates the making of the rempah or spice paste that is the back bone of Malay and Indonesian curries and spicy dishes. I find a stand blender does better to make the rempah as fine as possible, better than the hand blender I usually use for chopping other stuff. This recipe met with mum’s approval which was a high compliment and I can’t wait to make it again!
Sambal Goreng
Ingredients
- 3-5 tbsp peanut oil
- 10 red chilis, deseeded
- 1 stalk of lemongrass, ends cut off and the white part sliced
- 1 inch galangal sliced
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 packet of long beans (about 6-7 long beans), trimmed and cut into 2-3 inch long pieces
- 1 stalk lemongrass, bruised and cut into 2 pieces
- 2 pieces of firm tofu (tau kwa) cut into 1 cm cubes
- 1 large block of tempeh cut into 1 cm cubes
- 1 cup peanut oil
- 2 tbsp tamarind pulp
- 1/3 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar substitute
Ingredients for Rempah
Ingredients for Sambal Goreng
Directions
- In a blender, add the chili, lemongrass, galangal and garlic and blend, adding the oil little by litte till the mixture blends easily. The rempah should be like a paste. Set aside
- Add 1/3 cup hot water to the tamarind pulp and soak for 10 minutes. Using your fingers, break down the pulp and discard the seeds, pass the pulpy mixture through a sieve and discard the residue. Set aside the tamarind water.
- In a wok, heat 1 cup of peanut oil. Fry the tempeh till crispy and golden. Remove and drain on kitchen towels. Fry the tau kwa till slightly crisp and golden. Drain and place into a bowl lomed with kitchen towels.
- Pour away the oil into an oil saver. In the same wok add the lemongrass and rempah. Fry the rempah over medium heat until fragrant and slightly darker.
- Add the long beans and fry together woth the rempah for 1-2 minutes. Add the tempeh, tau kwa, tamarind water, water and coconut milk, salt, sugar substitute and dark soy sauce. Simmer for about 5 minutes till the long beans are softened.
- Serve hot with some cauliflower rice.
Still Feeling Peckish 