Recipe Ingredient
- 250 g block tempe
- 1 cup (250 ml) oil for frying
- 3 cups coarsely shredded green cabbage
- 300 g long beans, cut into 4 cm lengths
- 300 g beansprouts
- 1 small jicama (sengkuang), peeled and cut into thin strips
- 1 small cucumber, cut into thin strips
- 4 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and quartered
- Spicy peanut sauce:
- 150 g peanuts
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 fresh red chillies, cut into 3 cm lengths
- 5 bird chillies
- 4 shallots, peeled and thickly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and thickly sliced
- 1 tsp crumbled shrimp paste*
- 100 g finely chopped palm sugar
- 2 level tsp salt
- 1 rounded tbsp tamarind paste( squeeze well with the fingers and discard seeds)
- 300 ml water
- *Omit the shrimp paste from salad for vegetarians.
Instructions
- Cut tofu into 2 cm cubes and blot off excess moisture by pressing paper towels onto the surfaces. Cut tempe into 4 cm strips and then slice 0.5 cm thick. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan and working in batches, fry tempe and tofu golden brown. Drain on absorbent kitchen paper.
- Blanch cabbage in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove with perforated spoon, drain in a colander and run cold water from the tap to ´refresh´ and halt cooking. Blanch long beans for 3 - 4 minutes and refresh likewise. Beansprouts only need 20 seconds. Place in a colander and run cold water over. Make sure all vegetables are well drained.
- Arrange salad ingredients in a large serving platter or in individual bowls. Serve peanut sauce separately.
- To make peanut sauce: toast peanuts by ´dry frying´ in a wok over low heat (about 20 minutes or until lightly browned). Stir nuts every now and again to prevent nuts from burning. Cool peanuts for 10 minutes before whizzing up finely in a chopper/food processor. Alternatively, pound in a mortar and pestle. (it is not necessary to remove the papery brown skins before grinding.) Heat oil in a small pan and fry the chillies, shallots and garlic for about 3 minutes or until their edges are brown. Add shrimp paste, frying over low heat for another 2 minutes. (be warned: the shrimp paste will stink to high heaven!)
- Take pan off heat and cool slightly before putting contents of pan into a chopper/food processor together with the palm sugar and tamarind juice. Whiz finely.
- Combine this mixture with the chopped peanuts, adding enough cool boiled water to get a thick sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings(adding salt or additional white sugar to taste). The sauce tends to thicken upon standing - thin down with a little water if necessary.
