Indonesian Saute Tempe (Tempe Orek) - All time fave

Another packed day.

No French food today, as requested by the King in our house. So, I cooked this all-time-fave dish i.e. Tempe Orek. This is one of the favorites in my family. First we slice the tempe, deep-fry or stir-fry, then sauté the fried tempe with the herbs and spices. My personal ingredients usually comprise of the following: cayenne or sliced chilli, shallots, garlic, ground coriander, ground candlenut, ground peppers, a little bit of turmeric, palm sugar (or sweet soy sauce), and bay leaf. What I'm about to say is that the combination of tempe and coriander. We - Indonesian - know that the main spice for a standard type of fried tempe is coriander. In this particular sauté, I always add the ground coriander because it adds the savoury part in the dish - as this sauté is intended to be sweet. Eat this with just a plain warm rice, and everything's just fine. It looks simple (and humble), but to me basically the process is more complicated than preparing a Ratatouille. However, this is so common in Indonesia and most of us have been cooking this dish since kids, so we are so familiar with the ingredients and the process. Familiarity makes everything right in order and miraculously fast. I even had a time to bake a vegan carrot cake, in addition to the long hours of working on the weekend part LOL.

As a side dish, a sauté spinach is sufficed. Of course, a little bit of French essence is included LOL. TBH, I don't know which standards I was referring to but this is how I always make my spinach sauté as a side dish - with minced garlic and lotsa butter. It's just something that I instinctively make for a spinach sauté. So, you may be aware that even a simple Indonesian dish is equal to an intermediate French dish (LOL just IMHO). My King loves these combination much, and so do I. Happy cooking and eating.