Sambal Goreng literally means fried chilli sauce and there is a wide range of ingredients to combine with sambal to fry up a very delicious dish as a accompaniment to a meal.
It is a side dish I would almost always order when I get my fix at a Nasi Padang food stall, it somehow just make that very meal so much more fulfilling and satisfying. And one of my favourite combination is plain old potato and fermented soy, tempeh. Such inexpensive ingredients and when you fry them up in sambal, the taste is simply sublime! So delicious I could eat an entire plate of rice with this spicy sweet dish on its own as a meal.
Ingredients
3 Large Potato
100g Tempeh
Aromatic Paste
1 Small Red Onion
1 Garlic Clove
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
Seasoning
2 Tbsp Sambal Oelek
1 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1/2 tsp Assam Paste mix with 2 Tbsp Water
1 tsp Brown Sugar
1 tsp Kecap Manis
Sea Salt to taste
Method
Blend or pound the onion, garlic and salt into a fine paste. Set aside.
Cut both the potatoes and tempeh into 1.5cm cubes.
Deep fry the potatoes and tempeh cubes separately to light golden brown. Set aside.
In a frying pan/wok, heat some oil over medium heat. Add in the aromatic paste, fry for about 5 minutes till it is fragrant, stirring continuously. Be careful not to burn the paste.
Add in the sambal oelek and continue to stir, mixing the aromatic paste evenly with the sambal and fry for another 3-4 minutes.
Pour in the assam water, brown sugar, tomato ketchup and kecap manis. Stir to make sure the sauce is evenly mixed in with the sambal.
Add in the potato and tempeh cubes, stir to coat everything well with the sambal sauce and season with salt.
Once the sauce has thickened and reduced to almost nothing, it is done.
Serve hot with rice.
Author's Notes
Use bottled sambal oelek if you do not have any homemade ones