Tempeh, Indonesia’s wonder food

By Marianna Cerini

I first tried tempeh four years ago, at a tiny stall in the main market in Yogyakarta, a city on the Indonesian island of Java. I barged through the busy street, bustling past souvenir kiosks and colourful piles of vegetables, up to an unremarkable booth, where a man was flipping a hefty wok over a high flame. A cloud of fragrant aromas hovered above him. “Tempeh goreng,” the hawker told me as he handed me a newspaper scrap filled with golden brown, perfectly crispy slices of deep-fried tempeh. Tossed in soy sauce, grated ginger, tamarind and sambal, a chilli paste, it tasted savoury, nutty, almost meaty – and was surprisingly addictive. When I learned that the thick, firm patty was made from fermented soybeans, I couldn’t believe it. I had eaten tofu many times, but always found it plain, bland even. Tempeh was entirely different.

For the rest of the trip, I ate my way through its variations across Indonesia: from tempeh bacem, braised in spices, tamarind and palm sugar, to kripik tempeh (crisp crackers made of the stuff). It seemed to be people’s favourite snack and it became mine too.