Made from soy beans, tempeh is similar to tofu but has a nuttier taste. Here, it is combined with a fragrant blend of lemon grass, coriander and ginger. Note that mirin is a sweet rice wine from Japan. It has quite a delicate flavor and is used for cooking. Rice wine for drinking, called sake, is rather more expensive. Both are available from Asian food stores. If you cannot locate mirin, dry sherry can be used instead, although the results will not be quite the same.
Recipe: (Makes eight)
1 lemon grass stalk, outer leaves removed and inside finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 scallions (spring onions), finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 fresh red chilies, seeded and finely chopped
2.5 cm/1 inch piece fresh root ginger, finely chopped
60 ml/4 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander (cilantro), plus extra for garnish
250 g/9 oz tempeh, thawed if frozen, sliced
15 ml/1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
5 ml/1 teaspoon granulated sugar
45 ml/3 tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil, for frying
For the dipping sauce:
45 ml/3 tablespoons mirin
45 ml/3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 scallions (spring onions), thinly sliced
15 ml/1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 fresh red chilies, seeded and finely chopped
30 ml/2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
Large pinch of salt
Method:
Make the dipping sauce. Mix together the mirin, vinegar, scallions, sugar, chilies, coriander and salt in a small bowl. Cover with clear film (plastic wrap) and set aside until ready to serve.
Place the lemon grass, garlic, scallions, shallots, chilies, ginger and coriander in a food processor or blender, then process to a coarse paste. Add the tempeh, lime juice and sugar and process until combined. Add the flour and egg, with salt and pepper to taste. Process again until the mixture forms a coarse, sticky paste.
Scrape the paste into a bowl. Take one-eighth of the mixture at a time and form it into rounds with your hands. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan. Fry the tempeh cakes for 5-6 minutes, turning once, until golden. Drain on kitchen paper. Transfer to a platter, garnish and serve with the sauce.
1 comment:
Tempeh/Tempe is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. It originated from Indonesia, invented by the Javanese, where it is most popular, although it is common in other parts of Southeast Asia as well, introduced by migrated Javanese. It is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but tempeh is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempeh's fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber and vitamins compared to tofu, as well as firmer texture and stronger flavor. Tofu, however, is thought to be more versatile in dishes. Because of its nutritional value, tempeh is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue. Even long before people found and realized the rich nutritional value of tempeh, tempeh was referred to as “Javanese meat.”
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