Oseng Tempe Bali - Indonesian Delicacy Recipe Part 1!

Hello everyone!

One of my favourite thing about studying at Chalmers is the international environment where I get to meet lots of people from around the world and of course - to try new delicious food from lots of places! Since my friends and I have been having lots and lots of international dinners, I learned a lot about Indonesian dishes here. Before, I actually never knew how to make them (in Indonesia we have the tendency to buy food at restaurants or food stalls because it is so cheap and it saves lots of time). Now that I learned to cook some of the dishes, I actually feel like I respect more and I couldn't be more proud that we have lots of good food with such interesting way of cooking!

During the latest international dinner(s) I had with my close friends, I cooked Oseng Tempe Bali and Klepon. It was a surprise that everyone liked it! Therefore, I would like to share the recipe of Oseng Tempe Bali and Klepon that I made here. Of course, they did not taste 100% the same with the original one because of the limitation of ingredients found in Sweden, but! That's the beauty of Indonesian food actually. You can find nasi goreng (fried rice - our national dish) everywhere in Indonesia, but each area has a different taste depending on the local ingredient that they find!

Oseng Tempe Bali

*Fun fact about tempe: Tempe is an authentic Indonesian main ingredient which is a fermented soybean cake that is considered as one of the superfoods in the world for its richness in nutrition. It is also vegan! And! It is so versatile that you can make so many dishes with this ingredient. Even vegan burger patty and vegan steak!

Okay here is the recipe!

Ingredients for 4 portions:
Tempe (1 block) - in Gothenburg, you can buy it in Saigon Food in Nordstan, with a Dutch Spelling "Tempeh".
2 sticks - Lemongrass
2 pcs - Shallots
5 pcs - Small red chili
Salt, pepper
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 pcs - Lime
3 tbsp - Cooking oil (solrosolja / raspolja suits best).

Method:
Cut tempe into small cubes.
Mix a teaspoon of coriander powder, garlic powder (or grated fresh garlic), a little salt and pepper with a half cup of water.
Marinate the tempe in this water.

Smash the lemongrass with the back of the knife until it's cracked open. Then split in half. This method will release the natural fragrant of lemongrass.
Chop the lemongrass finely.
If you like spicy taste, chop the red chili directly into tiny pieces. If you like milder flavour, remove the seeds first before chopping them by making a cut in the middle and slide your knife sideways through the chili.
Peel the shallots, remove the bottom part, and then chop them finely.

Heat the oil in the cooking pan.
Remove tempe from the marination and fry it in medium heat. Stir them continuously.
When the colour turns a bit gold, goes in all the spices (lemongrass, chili, shallots).
Stir until fragrant, then turn down the heat into low.
Taste it, you can add a little bit of salt and pepper if you want more flavour. Some people also like a little bit of sugar to make it caramelized.
Remove from the heat When the pan is still a bit hot, squeeze a piece of lime. Use your hand as the strainer when squeezing to keep the seed away but still having the pulp in.

Serve over warm rice. You can add more squeeze of lime when serving as well. I personally enjoy this dish with slices of cucumber to cool myself down after the heat from the chili.
Enjoy!

*Fun fact about this recipe: This recipe is actually inspired by Ayam Kecombrang recipe (Shredded Chicken with Kecombrang Flower). So you can change the protein to shredded chicken if you want.

Tempe!!! 22 SEK is not cheap if you compare it to the prices in Indonesia, but for the good taste and the nutrition, it is gooooood price in Sweden!

If you want to change the protein to chicken..
Boil 5 pieces of chicken thighs (kycklinglår) in water, smashed garlic, salt and pepper for half an hour until thoroughly cooked and tender.
- Don't use chicken breast or fillet, it has the tendency to be very dry with this recipe.
Remove chicken from water, put one piece on a cutting board.
With two forks, shred the chicken by removing the meat from the bone.
Repeat the same method to the remaining chicken pieces.
Use the same recipe as above. You can also mix between tempe and chicken.

The chicken version!

I had one funny experience where I brought this dish as my lunch to school. When I reheated my lunch in the school's kitchen, some students were curious what dish is that because it is very fragrant. In the original recipe, it is even more fragrant because it uses the kecombrang flower! Unfortunately I cannot find it here in Sweden, but hopefully you can come to Indonesia to try the authentic one!

Please send me a picture if you try this recipe! Hope you'll like it! Part two, coming up right away. 

Next is Klepon! The famous Indonesian explosive dessert! BOOM! :)