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Tempeh Penyet - Spicy Bruised Tempeh
The idea of a penyet is simple, combine a fried item, like fried chicken or friend tempeh with your favorite sambal in a cobek (Indonesian for mortar and pestle). This bruising action is what we call penyet, literally means to flatten, this is because once you bruise the fried items together with sambal, they are going to appear flatten (or penyet), hence the name. In an ideal world, everyone will have a mortar and pestle in their kitchen, but worry not since I am giving an alternative on how to make this dish even without one.
Tempeh Penyet - Spicy Bruised Tempeh
Ingredients
- Fried tempeh
- 400 gram tempeh, cut into 5cm x 5cm x 1cm, lightly score the surface with a knife (like how you would score a fish)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder (Indonesian: bubuk ketumbar)
- 2 cloves garlic (Indonesian: bawang putih), grated
- 200 ml water
- enough oil for deep frying
- Penyet sambal
- 3 tablespoon oil
- 5 shallots (Indonesian: bawang merah), about 60 gram
- 5 red cayenne chilies (Indonesian: cabe merah keriting)
- 1-3 red bird eye chilies (Indonesian: cabe rawit merah)
- 1 teaspoon toasted shrimp paste (Indonesian: terasi bakar)
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar (Indonesian: gula Jawa)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce (Indonesian: kecap manis)
- Tool
- mortar and pestle, or food processor
Instructions
- Fried tempeh
- Marinate tempeh with salt, coriander, garlic, and water in a mixing bowl for 1 hour. Drain, and deep fried until golden brown. Set aside.
- Penyet sambal
- Heat oil in a frying pan and sauté shallot and chilies until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
- If you have a mortar and pestle (this is the traditional way), use it to grind together cooked shallot and chilies, along with toasted shrimp paste, palm sugar, salt, lime juice, and sweet soy sauce. Adjust sugar and salt to your taste. Add the fried tempeh, then bruised with the pestle and lightly fold so the penyet sambal coat the tempeh. Transfer to a serving plate and serve.
- If you don't have a mortar and pestle, use a food processor to grind together cooked shallot and chilies, along with toasted shrimp paste, palm sugar, salt, lime juice, and sweet soy sauce. Adjust sugar and salt to your taste. Transfer to a mixing bowl, tear the fried tempeh with hand, then add to mixing bowl. Toss until tempeh is coated with the chili sauce. Transfer to a serving plate and serve.
Comments
I love your page! I can't wait to cook many of your recipes! All of my friends loved this dish.
Thank you Erin! Let me know how they turn out, okay? :)
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