Recipe for Tempe Kemul Wonosobo (fermented soya beans coated with batter and deep fried)
Hello dear Steemians,
today I'd give you a recipe for one of the dishes from the birthday party of my baby.
Indonesians love fried snacks so much and this kind of dishes could be found nearly everywhere in Indonesia, where you often spot the street hawkers. For us, Indonesians living abroad, such food considered a luxury... on par with a gourmet, but in Indonesia they would normally considered as cheap food great for saving money, neverthless contains a high amount of protein. :-D
What I'm going to show you today is a speciality from Wonosobo, a small city at the highlands at the south part of Central Java. This city is in between the twin mountains "Sindoro" and "Sumbing", so the climate there is rather cool. A beautiful and relaxing place to live in...
I must say that I spent quite a memorable years there, at the prime years or my youth.
It was my first experience living alone away from the protection of my beloved family to earn my own Rupiah (Indonesian currency).
I left for this city at 20 years old and stayed there for 4 years. There I met my first love and naturally my first terrible brokenheart. :-D
I had a few terrible love experiences and some other bad choices in life, however I never regret any of them as those are things that lead into the present me, that creates my present personality.
For example I came from a small city where the highschool I visited didn't have enough facility to introduce us to internet. Basically I developed my computer skill and got to know internet from this very first boyfriend of mine. ^_^
So I think I'm rather qualified to say that the statement "There is always a positive side of every problem/bad occasion, one just need to find it," is not just a cliche. :-D
By the way... I surely hope that this time is my very last love story that would end happily ever after like in the fairy tale hahaha. This "ex-boyfriend" of mine has given me a gorgeous little princess and taken me to the land where most of fairytales I like during childhood came from.
To be honest, when I was a child, I thought those tales setting are all in USA... (thanks to Disney LOL)
It could be said that most of the things I expected from a husband (at least the significant ones) are to be found in him, except that he's not representing my imagination of a German before... because, he's not tall :-D.
But one can't always get everything one wants in life, right?! Height is a minor problem, so it's negligible LOL.
Especially since I am rather short too hahahahaha.
Ok...enough with the reminiscing past stories, let's just get to the recipe!
This snack is called "Tempe Kemul" (when it's made of tempe/fermented soya beans) or "Tahu Kemul" (when it's made using tofu).
It's called "kemul", because it's coated with a viscous mixture of water, spices and flour and then to be fried. "Kemul" is a Javanese word of "quilt" or "covering oneself with a quilt". In Indonesia they would be served warm with some rawit chilis, but since I have no chilis at the moment, so I used chili sauce ABC instead.
These are the main ingredients for Tempe Kemul Wonosobo:
- a block of tempe or tofu, slice it in square form rather thinly.
- 25 g tapioca flour
- 75 g all purpose flour
- 25 g rice flour
- 150 ml coconut milk or just plain water is ok too
Spices list:
- chives or scallions, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 cm long kencur (fresh or dried one), or 1 tsp ground kencur
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 4 kemiri nut (or almond)
- 1 tbsp coriander grain or 1 tsp ground coriander (I suggest to use the grain as it tastes stronger)
- 1 tsp salt and a bit of sugar (maximum 1/2 tsp)
- frying oil
This is how tempe looks like:
And this is how kemiri nuts look like:
These are dried kencur or the ground one:
Instruction:
Grind all the spices using a mortar and then mix it with the flour, chopped chives and water (or coconut milk) in a bowl. If the mixture is too liquid just add a little bit more all purpose flour. On the other hand, if the mixture is not flussig enough then just add a little bit more water. I think one can simply sense it, if the mixture is good enough to perfectly coat the tempe or tofu but won't make it like a chunk of bread after being fried.
When the mixture is ready, put all the thinly sliced tempe or tofu in the bowl, then deep fry them.
Strain the fried tempe kemul and use kitchen paper towel to wipe away the excess oil.
Tempe or tahu kemul are ready to serve ;-)
Note: This snack is a great option for vegetarians and vegans, it's tasty and gives you a lot of protein so your hunger would be gone quite long.
Have a nice try and thanks in advance for the upvotes!
Thanks for this great story and insight into your life. Although we live here in Bali, I don't know this dish yet..... I have to ask my friends if they know this. Maybe I can even find the ingredients and try the recipe :-). Thanks and sunny greetings
But probably you have once heard "Tempe Mendoan", that is more widely spread than Tempe kemul in Indonesia. They are very similar. The difference is on the coating. Tempe kemul normally stays crispy quite long, even if it's already cold. That's because we add up rice flour and tapioca flour in the mixture, and no egg.
It tastes richer too as we add up Kemiri nuts, kencur and sometimes also uses coconut milk instead of water.
On the other hand, Tempe Mendoan only use coriander, garlic and salt to give the flavor, and sometimes one add an egg into the mixture, but egg makes the snack moist and no longer crispy, especially when it's cold. But it doesn't matter too much, both tastes really good and we Indonesians normally eat them warm anyway. :)
Thanks @kobold-djawa for your explanation. Finally, I found someone here in Sanur who knows "Tempe Mendoan" and she cooks this in her Warung almost daily. But since it is never on the menu card, I didn't knew this. Yesterday I tried the dish for the first time and it tastes delicious, especially with coconut milk :-). Greetings from Sanur, Prisca
Nice that you like it. ^^
I can imagine that most foreigner would miss a lot of traditional snacks when they eat in a "Warung" instead of a restaurant. Because normally, Warung would only list the main course but not the "Beilage" (oh God, I just forgot the english word for this LOL).
For Indonesian, main course would mean rice or perhaps lontong with some options of "Sayur", such as: sayur lodeh, sayur asam, sayur bening, sayur sop, soto, rawon etc.
The unique thing is, sayur literally means: "vegetables", although they don't always contain much vegetables in it hahaha. Only sayur asam, bening or sop would still have "some green things" to see. :-D
Protein varieties and snacks would normally served on the plates and put on the table for the customers to choose. One normally just take whatever they want from the plates while enjoying the main course there, and later when they need to pay...they just have to say what they have taken and how many of them...then the price will be added up to the price of the main dishes.
If the customer wants to take the food home, one can also say which snacks or protein source one wish to have to accompany the main dish and how many from each of them should be wrapped up.
But I think... now you must have learned about this further details by now, neverthless I write it here, who knows another readers are interested to know it too. ^^
Have a nice weekend (Ana)
Hello Ana, nice to know your name now :-). At the beginning we had some problems with the Warungs because sometimes the quality was not so good and afterwards we had stomach problems. Of course, now we have some small preferences and are very satisfied. Sure, the vegetables are sometimes everything green and what it exactly is, you don't know. But we always try new things - sometimes it tastes and sometimes not ;-). Do you also speak a little German? My husband comes from France and always says that German is extremely difficult to learn, especially the grammar ... Greetings from Bali, Prisca
Yes, I speak German... I've been here for ca. 9 year, so it would have been embarassing not to speak the language LOL.
I wrote my blog in 2 languages in the past and made it in 2 columns, but since my baby is getting bigger and more active... writing in 2 languages is rather time consuming, that's why I didn't do it again lately.
And writing in English is simply the better option because we have international audience here. :-D
I would certainly write in German again later when the topic of my article is somehow particularly relevant for Germans. ;-)
By the way regarding stomach problem, after leaving Indonesia rather long... most Indonesians would normally also get the same problem with street food or food from warung, at least for the first week.
So I would consider it rather normal ^_^
At least when one doesn't have any particular medical condition which requires a special caution toward food.
Hoffentlich lesen jene, die weniger an Kochrezepten interessiert sind, nicht nur die Überschrift! Es würde ihnen dann nämlich ein sehr amüsant geschriebener Exkurs in dein früheres (Liebes-)Leben entgehen ;-)
Dein ironisch-liebevoller Blick auf äußere Attribute deines ex-boyfriends ist einfach nur köstlich! Ja, so ist es manchmal mit Wunsch und Wirklichkeit ;-)
Danke für das Rezept! Vielleicht habe ich sogar einmal die Gelegenheit , diesen Snack vor Ort zu verköstigen.
Das hoffe ich auch. ^^
Mein Mann hat damals im Chat erwähnt, dass er nicht groß ist und das hat mich besonders irritiert hahahaha. Er wollte nur ehrlich sein, aber ich dachte: "Was wollte er denn damit sagen? Wir sind doch nur Freunde, seine Große interessiert mich doch nicht."
Ja ja... ich bin klein, und es wäre schön einen großen Mann zu haben, damit unser Kind später etwas großer sein könnte LOL. Ich war oft diskriminiert während der Arbeitssuche wegen meiner Große. Das ist mein einziger Grund. Das war aber nie ein Ausschlusskriterium für mich. Deshalb hat es mich wirklich irritiert. Ich habe mich manchmal Sorgen gemacht, ob er ein nicht selbstbewusster Man wäre. Das wäre eher ein Minuspunkt für mich. :-D
Wenn ich nochmal zurückblicke, ich habe noch nie so einen ehrlichen Mann kennengelernt, zumindest einen Mann, der Interesse an eine Frau hat.
Das war ja nicht seine einzige Aussagen, die mich oft nervten und uns zum Streit brachten.
Ja, wir haben öfter im Chat gestritten statt zu flirten hahahahaha.
Na ja... Diese Missverständnisse waren scheinbar gut gelöst LOL, sonst wäre ich heute nicht hier.
Und ich denke, das waren auch einen guten Grund, warum ich mich so entschlossen war, ihn so schnell zu heiraten und nach DE umzuziehen. Er gab jedenfalls den Eindruck, sehr vertrauenswürdig zu sein. ^^
Wie man am Ergebnis (kleine Prinzessin) sehen kann, habt ihr beide offenbar alles richtig gemacht! :-D
Für manche Frauen ist die Körpergröße bei der Partnerwahl ein wichtiges Kriterium. Deshalb finde ich es gut von deinem damaligen Chatpartner und jetzigen Ehemann, dass er beim Kennenlernen gleich darauf hingewiesen hat. Er hat wohl schon vor dir geahnt, wohin die Reise gehen wird ...
Als Teenager habe ich auch immer von einem großen Partner geträumt. Inzwischen weiß ich, dass es den Traumprinzen nicht gibt und es andere Werte sind, auf die es ankommt.
Was mich nachdenklich stimmt, ist, dass du wegen deiner Größe bei der Arbeitssuche diskriminiert wurdest. Ich kann mir wenige Berufe vorstellen, in denen die Körpergröße ein bestimmendes Kriterium ist.
Davon hätte ich gestern Abend zum Championsleague Spiel gerne ein paar gehabt, sieht wirklich sehr lecker aus 😋
Your love experience is very interesting. I absolutely agree with the statement; "There is always a positive side of every problem/bad occasion, one just need to find it,".
I think you are very lucky woman that most women, including me, would love to be. Like a princess waiting for a prince from a dream country and living together happily at the end and have a little cute princess…. Yes, it seems that the story in the fairly tale comes in true life.
Your snack has bright color and looks tasty. Thanks for sharing your recipe with us. ;)
Lol... This so called luck came only after a lot of bad luck too, you know? hahahaha.
Perhaps only very few people in the world have always a smooth life, the rest must struggle first before being able to enjoy anything 😊.
And before we die, anything could still happen.
The earth is round...and life is just like one. Sometimes you're on top but it is also possible that tomorrow you're at the bottom... We can only do our best each time 😊.
Ah! I believe that those bad luck can make you be stronger and stronger. And these create your present personality, as you said in your article. And you now found good luck and live happily with your warm family. ;)
In the meantime, I totally agree with your statement, “Perhaps only very few people in the world have always a smooth life, the rest must struggle first before being able to enjoy anything”, “we can only do our best each time”. That’s really true…. ;))
mhh lecker, ich liebe Tempe. Aber am meisten mag ich Tempe Manis.
Meinst du, Tempe gewürzt mit Kecap manis, Palmzucker, Zitronenblatt, Knoblauch, Zwiebeln, Laos und ein bisschen scharf?
vermutlich, ich kenne es nur als Tempe Manis, wusste nicht was da alles an Gewürzen mit drin ist. Jetzt weiß ich es. Danke, wieder was gelernt.
ohhh mein liebe, das sieht ja absolut lecker aus..... bei mir bleibt heute die küche kalt..... ich hab vergessen das feiertag ist..... und nichts eingekauft.... aber die bilder von dir entschädigen dafür.....euch einen schönen 1. Mai
Oh je, es tut mir leid...Solcher Fehler habe ich auch oft gemacht haha. Zum Gluck habe ich immer Reis und Eier zu Hause, das kann den Tag retten. Einfach Reis und Omelette, oder gebratenen Reis machen 😂.
ja wir sind natürlich auch nicht verhungert.....lol***
@Kobold-djawa how sweet are your fond memories.Bless you and your husband.
Your battered soya bean fried scrumptiouness looks devine.I love my fried snacks.Coming from an indian background we have samosas, pakorahs, tikkias to name a few.I will soo have to try your recipe.Just need to do a bit of shopping and get the ingredients.👍💛
Thank you...we also have samosa. Btw do you have a simple way to make biryani or madras? That would be great... I wish to try making some.
I luuurve my samosa.lol.Well i make my own biryarni.To be honest the best ones i have tasted are kashmiri variety.I make mine more of a punjabi style.
This is one i made few weeks ago.
I will definitely put a step by step version of how i make my Biryarni.Hopefully you will like it @kobold-djawa.
What i normally do is gain inspiration from my fellow steemians and do an indian twist on the recipe and post it.This is however one of my classic ones, so will stick to my traditional way.Just need to get a few ingredients to make it and I will post it in the next few days for you.🤗👍
Oh... I will wait for it ^_^. I like Biryani, I hope it's not too complicated.
Its not but theres a few spices you may need.You make the meat seperate and then the rice.Then it is a case of layering it.@Kobold- djawa, biryani is my fav dish too. love lots of yoghurt poured over it.Oh what meat would you like.I can make it with chicken or lamb?I normally make it with lamb.The flavour is more meaty and rich.I will do my step by step guide.Hopefully should be easier to follow.👍
P.S just commented on your husbands post.He shared some photo of you at your friends wedding.You looked gorgeous.Both of use look so sweet together.Bless use💛
Thank youu <3 .
I like lamb too, it has a special taste that is irreplacable I think. :-D
Lamb it is! 💛🤗
Als leidenschaftlicher "Esser" könnte ich mir davon jetzt durchaus ein paar genehmigen... ;_)
Aha... Danke für die Genehmigung LOL.
Ist immer noch genehm!!! :-) :-)
Sitze gerae mit leerem Magen vorm PC und warte auf das Abendessen... ;-)
Ohja das seht mal wieder richtig lecker aus :)
Du kannst auch noch einfacher machen. Es gibt sogenannte Tempe Mendoan, das ist ähnlich und schmeckt genauso gut aber die Zutaten sind weniger.
Wenn du gerade nur Weizenmehl hast, ist es in Ordnung. Der Nachteil ist nur dass es nicht mehr knusprig, wenn es kalt geworden ist.
Kemiri und Kencur kann man weglassen. Kemiri gibt nussigen Geschmack und Kencur macht es frischer. Wenn man Husten mit schwer auszulösenden Schleim hat, kann Tee aus Kencur sehr gut helfen.
Viele Sänger trinken gerne diesen Tee, da er gut den Hals reinigin und die Stimme wird schöner .
Ohne diese beide Gewürze schmecken Tempe immer noch gut.
Tempe findet man auch in manche Bioladen, ist nur etwas teurer als in Asialaden.
Wow!!! The Tempe Kemul loooks so yummy! And you've got a very nice story at the beginning of the recipe. :)