Tempeh Sambal Goreng
Tempeh sambal goreng is one of my go to recipes I make whenever making an Indonesian rice table. Crunchy deep fried tempeh coated in a sweet, savoury and spicy sambal, this stuff is so good!
In Amsterdam there are a lot of Surinamese-Indonesian take-away toko’s. I always love getting a soto soup or chicken roti. As we’re eating more vegetarian these days, I’m trying more dishes with tofu. I love the texture and crunchiness of tempeh, it’s also one of the things we order quite often when we do take-out. So here is my version of tempeh sambal goreng!
You can use store bought sambal if you’re in a time squeeze, but you can of course also make your own. Here is one of my versions for Sambal Badjak. You can fine tempeh in most supermarkets nowadays, or go to your local Asian supermarket like Amazing Oriental.
Tempeh Sambal Goreng
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...Ingredients
- 1 piece of tempeh (±250g)
- 1 onion - finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic - minced
- 2 tbsp sambal oelek or badjak (more or less to taste)
- 3 tbsp ketjap manis
- 1 tsp ground laos (or fresh ginger)
- 1/2 tsp trassi (leave out it keeping it vegan)
- 1/2 tbsp (palm) sugar
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- peanut or vegetable oil to fry in
- pepper and salt to season
Instructions
Slice the tempeh in thin matchstick size strips, the thinner they are, the crispier they will be. But be careful not to make too thin, you still need a bit of a bite.
Heat a good glug of oil in a skillet so you can shallow fry the tempeh until brown and crisp (± 3-4 minutes).
Fry in batches, let drain on a paper towel and season with salt when still hot.
When all has been fried, clean the pan with a paper towel, leaving a little oil behind.
Add the chopped onion and garlic and fry until fragrant and glassy.
Then add the laos, sambal and trassi. Stir until no lumps of trassi are left.
Add sugar and stir till dissolved, then add the ketjap manis and the lime juice.
Heat well, let boil for ± 30 seconds and then add the crispy tempeh and stir well so everything is coated. Y
You can serve it both hot and cold. Selamat makan!
Notes
For extra crunch and flavour you can also added some toasted peanuts and crispy fried ansjovis (Ikan Teri).
2 Comments
Renee
7 March 2025 at 07:30
Hi Saffron,
Is the Trassi a whole tsp or is there a typo in the fraction (2 or 4 instead or 1 behind the slash)
Thank you,
Renee
Saffron
1 April 2025 at 10:34
Ah great thank you for pointing that out! It should say 1/2 a tsp. I’ve adjusted it! Did you give it a try yet?