[2nd Onion Day] Tempe Bawang Bumbu Kecap // Tempe and Onion with Sweet Soy Sauce

After reading the 2nd Onion day invitation on IMBB, I sent an email to Zorra regarding on that event. Thanks to Zorra for hosting this event. With my consideration of being an Indonesian, tempeh or tempe has a cake form, made from soybean by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process. It is originated from Indonesia and invented by the Javanese. It's also popular in other parts of Indonesia as well as other parts of Southeast Asia, introduced by migrated Javanese. Known as a staple source of protein in Java island of Indonesia.

Diced Tempe

I joined this event with Tempe Bawang Bumbu Kecap (literally tempeh and onion with sweet soy sauce. This recipe is adapted from ayam bumbu kecap's recipe, literally in English, Chicken with Sweet Soy Sauce.

Indonesians (especially the Javanese) love to use kecap manis. This is a different soy sauce, it's sweet (because it's added in palm sugar), thicker and also has a different flavor with regular soy sauce. Mostly in abroad, people use ABC's brand, for this recipe I used Bango�s brand which is not all Asian stores have it and to be honest I only use ABC�s brand if I can't find Bango or Cap Sate's brand.

Ingredients:
225 g tempe, cut 1 cm diced, marinate for 30 minutes, deep fry until lightly browned
1 medium (200 g) onion, wedged
2 Indonesian bay (salam) leaves
2 cm galangal
2 green chillies, angle cut
2 tbsp Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
200 ml water

Grind into a paste
3 cloves garlic
5 shallots
ground white pepper as desired
salt as desired

Marinade
garlic powder
ground corriander seed
water

Directions:
1. Heat up oil in a skillet at medium-high. Stir fry a spiced paste, wedged onion until fragrant. Add salam leaves and galangal until wilted.
2. Add tempe and green chillies, stir evenly. Add kecap manis, oyster sauce, white pepper, and salt, stir.
3. Add water and cook until the water evaporates and the spices is absorbed. Remove from the heat. Serve with warmed rice.