Sambal Tumis Tempeh dan Ikan Bilis / Anchovies and Tempeh Sambal

Tempeh, a fermented soybean is mostly associated with Orang Jawa or Javanese. Like tofu, tempeh is made of soybean but retained in whole soybean shape. Since Malaysia is close to Indonesia, it is no wonder tempeh is very popular especially in the state of Johor. Actually I only know of this fact after talking to my ex-schoolmate yesterday. My father is a Johorean so we eat tempeh all the time and so I thought everybody eats tempeh too. Apparently I was wrong.

While tempeh is easily found in Malaysia, here in the US you can only find them either at the asian stores or specialty stores like Trader Joe's (California) which is of course a bit more expensive. My friend Gert of My Kitchen Snippet brought me some tempeh when she came here for a holiday and I just deep fried and eat them with sambal kicap (soy sauce sambal). When I managed to find some more tempeh from the asian store, I decided to make Sambal Tumis Tempeh and Ikan Bilis. Here is the recipe and I hope you will enjoy it.

Sambal Tumis Tempeh dan Ikan Bilis

4oz Sambal Tumis
A block of tempeh, cut into small pieces
A handful of anchovies - cleaned, rinsed and drained
1/2 onion, sliced
Oil for frying

1. In a frying pan (or pot), fry the tempeh, set aside and then fry the anchovies and set aside.

2. In another pan, heat about 2 tbs of vegetable oil and sauteed the onion. Add sambal and stir until it thickened.

3. Add in tempeh and anchovies and stir until they are fully coat by the sambal.

4. Enjoy with warm white rice or on toast.

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