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!