Recipe: how to make truly delicious tempeh satay
The ultimate ABC of the most delicious satay is the new cookbook Indostock by Vanja van der Leeden. Vanja shows you how to make the most famous Indonesian street food at home in various ways. From the classic chicken satay to this tempeh satay: every version is incredibly delicious. Yes, tempeh haters: even the vegetarian version!
“Tempeh, you love it or you hate it. I’m in the first camp, while Remko calls out from camp two: ‘Cardboard!’ Either he was simply incredibly hungry when we made this dish, or I managed to make a good tempeh satay. Cooking the tempeh in the bumbu is important, because that makes it into a cohesive whole. Previously, I marinated it badly and that had zero effect. I ate chunks of tempeh with sauce around them, if you know what I mean. I wouldn’t recommend peanut sauce with this because it’s quite heavy. A fresh sambal with kemangi (lemon basil) is the way to go.”
How to make the tempeh satay
- Break the tempeh into small pieces of approximately 2 x 2 centimetres (or cut it with a knife; I like organic shapes, so I break them apart with my hands). Make sure the pieces aren’t too large: small pieces have more flavour (see p. 13, ‘Satémores’).
- In a mortar, pound the shallot, garlic and lombok chillies with a pinch of salt until fine (or use a hand blender and 1 tablespoon of oil). Heat the sunflower oil in a wok or frying pan and stir-fry the bumbu for 5 minutes.
- Add the lime leaves, tamarind water, kecap manis, soy sauce and tempeh pieces. Add enough water to just cover the tempeh. Simmer over medium heat without a lid until almost all the liquid has reduced (you want a little marinade clinging to the tempeh). This takes between 20 and 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the sambal kemangi.
- Thread 3 or 4 tempeh pieces onto water-soaked skewers.
- Light the barbecue and wait until the flames die down and the coals are glowing white. Create a hot zone and a cooler zone. Grill the satay in the hot zone for a few minutes per side first, until you see nice charred spots. Turn quickly and keep turning regularly.
- Pour kecap manis onto a large flat plate and drag the satay skewers through it (or brush them with a pastry brush). Turn them and make sure all sides are well coated with kecap manis. Cook them once more in the cooler zone until the tempeh is nicely caramelised.
- Serve with sambal kemangi.
How to make the sambal kemangi
- Place the shallot, garlic, tomatoes, lombok chillies and rawits in the rice steamer and steam
for 10 minutes. - Pound the steamed ingredients together with the terasi and salt in a mortar until coarse.
- Heat the sunflower oil in a wok or frying pan and fry the sambal for about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the kemangi at the very end and immediately remove from the heat.
Title: Indostok
Author: Vanja van der Leeden
Price: €22,50
Publisher: Nijgh & van Ditmar
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