Tempe Bacem

For those who are alien towards TEMPE, there is a small article regarding it on the Tips Of The Month Column on this blog.

This recipe comes from Debbie Teoh , an avid cook and home caterer for local favourites and Nyonya cuisine. The dish has a slight sweet taste due to the coconut water used.



Oil for frying
2 packets tempe(300g)

Grind to a paste
5 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp fennel
2 stalks lemongrass
30g galangal


3 cups fresh coconut water
3 salam leaves(I used calamansi leaves)
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

In her recipe , Debbie Teoh had sliced shallots and garlic but I have made it into a paste .You can prepare the dish either way .
For the tempe,make a criss cross slits on the tempe before cutting it into diamond shapes.Saute the grind spices until aromatic, add in coconut water , calamansi leaves ,palm sugar and salt .Add tempe and cook over medium heat,stirring occasionally until liquid dries up.Remove tempe and set aside. Clean wok and heat some oil over high heat.Pan fry the tempe pieces over low heat until lightly brown and turning once.Before frying you can remove excess spices on the tempe and then fry it or fry the tempe with spices .If so,be careful because the tempe will turn brown very quickly therefore quickly turn over and remove from pan.















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