megatempehtemptations-blog

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Ladies Who Lunch: A Conversation 

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Crispy Fried Tempeh with Sweet Soy Sauce - English Version

Ingredients:

2 block of tofu (optional) 

5 chopped red chilis

1 onions

Oil 

1 cup of coconut milk 

Sweet soy sauce

For seasoning:

4 red onions

2 garlic cloves

Pepper

Salt

Sugar

Chicken stock

How to: 

Fried the tempe until it’s crispy. 

On a separate pan, heat the oil and put in the seasoning, sautee the garlic and onions until it is slightly brown. 

Put the fried tempe onto the seasoning mix and sit. 

Add the chilis and sweet soy sauce, stir. 

Add coconut milk and  

Serve with white rice. 

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Tempe Kering Kecap Manis (Crispy Tempeh with Sweet Soy Sauce) - Bahasa Indonesia Version

My mother used to pack me lunch back in middle school and through high school after learning and tinkering around in the kitchen, making lunches for me became a habit. My mother’s lunch was also something I look forward to everyday in lunch time and after school. The dish that occupied the small compartment in my lunchbox would be this crispy tempeh. It goes with everything and I consider this to be more superior than any other side dishes in the world. 

• 1 kotak tempe (iris panjang, sesuai selera)

• 5 buah cabai merah besar (iris serong)

• 1 batang daun bawang (cincang kasar)

• Minyak (secukupnya)

• 5 sdm santan kelapa

• Kecap manis

Untuk Bumbu:

• 4 siung bawang merah

• 2 siung bawang putih

• Merica (secukupnya)

• Garam (secukupnya)

• Gula (secukupnya)

• Kaldu ayam bubuk (secukupnya, jika suka)

Cara Membuat

1. Goreng tempe hingga matang dan bagian luarnya cukup kering, angkat kemudian tiriskan.

2. Panaskan sedikit minyak, tumis bumbu yang telah dihaluskan hingga harum.

3. Masukkan tempe ke dalam tumisan bumbu, aduk rata.

4. Tambahkan daun bawang, cabai merah besar dan kecap secukupnya, aduk rata.

5. Tambahkan santan kelapa, aduk rata. Aduk semua bahan hingga bumbu merata. 

6. Angkat kering tempe kecap yang gurih manis, sajikan selagi masih hangat.

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Fried Tempeh in Oyster Sauce - English Version

2 block of tofu (optional) 

2 blocks of tempeh 

1 leek

4 pieces of red onions

3 pieces of garlic

chili (optional) 

1 spoon of oyster sauce

Masako (basically MSG but let’s just say that it’s a type of seasoning)

1 spoon of sweet soy sauce

1 spoon of oil for cooking 

1/2 cup of water 

Pepper 

How to: 

Heat the pan, wait until it is warm enough and put tempeh on pan. 

On a separate pan, sautee the leek, garlic and red onions 

Put in the chili as well as Masako (optional) 

Add sweet soy sauce onto the pan and oyster sauce. Stir. 

Add fried tempeh onto the sauce pan, stir. Add a pinch of pepper and stir again.  

Serve with white rice. 

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Tempe Goreng Saus Tiram (Fried Tempeh in Oyster Sauce) - Bahasa Indonesia Version

Tempe saus tiram takes me all the way back to my maternal grandparents’ place in Central Jakarta. For a reason that is still unknown to me, it’s the one dish they’ll always have on their table. This and ayam goreng kampung as well as bayem goreng (fried chicken and sauteed spinach) makes the perfect pairing for an afternoon visit on a Sunday where we would sit down and have lunch, catching up with one another. The dish is a no brainer for the Hardjono/Thaib/Harun clan. In all honesty, I never quiet knew what they put in the dish but it’s, as one would say, a total classic! I present you the first recipe of many, according to Sheila, in Bahasa Indonesia, via long-distance phone call (Facetime Audio): 

2 papan tahu (optional)

 2 papan tempe

1 batang daun bawang

4 butir bawang merah

3 siung bawang putih

cabe rawit merah  ( kalau suka pedas ya. Akan tetapi lebih enak pedes) 

1 sendok makan saus tiram

Masako untuk perasa

1 sendok makan kecap manis

1 sendok makan minyak goreng, untuk tumis, secukupnya 

1/2 gelar air 

Cara membuat: 

Panaskan minyak goreng, kemudian goreng tempe. 

Tumis bawang merah dan bawang putih yang telah dihaluskan.

Masukin cabai (seperlunya) dan Masako. 

Tambahkan kecap manis dan saus tiram. Lalu tuangkan sedikit saja air supaya tidak terlalu kental. 

Aduk dan masukkan potongan tempe yang sudah digoreng. Berikan sedikit merica bubuk lalu aduk kembali sampai rata.

Sediakan pakai nasi putih. 

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An Artist Statement

Growing up with tempeh means having to see and eat it almost every single day. Finding it in fridge despite running out of beef, eggs or even vegetables as if nobody ever touched it. My mother or my maid, Tri, would have them ready at the table, warm, crispy and ready before the main dishes are served. It’s a snack, it’s a main dish, it’s a side dish, it’s everything to my Javanese-Minang family, it’s everything to the people of Indonesia. It’s the food for the people, grown and nurtured by the people. The presence of tempeh in Indonesia is hard to ignore and can sometimes be understated.

To see tempeh being reinterpreted and branded as a vegan food item as well as something more of a substitute, an “upgrade” from tofu in the Western culture is disappointing. This piece, this blog or Tumblr post or whatever you are going to call it, is an attempt to show the origins, the story as well as to showcase my own family’s interpretation and the ways we cook it back in Indonesia. It is also perhaps the first documentation of my mother’s cooking, specifically with tempe. The content doesn’t explicitly say something in regards to what I think as a erasure of both the culture and history of how tempeh came about but I am hoping readers or anyone who gets to take a look at it can compare my mother’s recipe to how it is serve or interpreted in recipes from American publications.  

In terms of medium, I aim for it to expand hence the last minute alteration and conversion to a Tumblr post. It is also  important to disclose that some words were hard to translate during the process of writing this as the words are very specific and localized and I have learnt along the way that it is indeed one of the things that takes up a lot of time.

I am inspired by Anthony Bourdain’s “Appetites: A Cookbook” as well as his book, “Medium Raw” in which I get to read last summer. I want to embody his skill of using food as a vehicle for storytelling. Prior to this, I also interviewed Natalie Vaval and Ann Estaris in which we talked about growing up eating our packed lunches. Growing up in my own country, I did not experience any scrutiny or bullying for eating my own food as I grew up with the locals, with my people and so the experience was rather different for Natalie and Ann. We also expressed our frustration with Western interpretations of the dishes from our own culture and the trends it birthed. As an Indonesian, Caribbean-Salvadorian and American-Filipinos, we witnessed some of our food items being marketed to make it more palatable for American consumers. Such as tempeh, which is now being labeled “superfood” and the new “tofu”.

I also got to go around and visit restaurants that serves burgers and vegan dishes, looking for Impossible Burger only to find out that it is currently out of stock.

With this, I am hoping people can not only discover new ways of how tempeh is served but also the language and culture it’s always been attached to.

Bio:

New York-based artist, writer and filmmaker, born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia. Characteristically not in a hurry but perpetually easily enraged by slow foot traffic before her. Mostly writes on films and popular culture.