tempe bacem - sweet fried tempeh

Tempe Bacem Sweet fried tempe

Bahan-bahan:ingredients:
300 gr tempe
2 salam leaves (indonesian bay leaf) can substitute european bay or curry leaf
1 sereh (lemongrass)
500 ml water or coconut water
oil

bumbu:
2 cm laos (galangal)
1/2 tsp ketumbar (coriander seed)
1 shallot
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp palmsugar
1 tsp grated coconut
2 red lomboks (chilli)
2 teaspoon ketchap mani(optional)

Cara membuat:preparation/method:
Cut the tempe into small slices and slice again into 2-3 cm long pieces. Pound or grind the ingredients for the bumbu into a fine paste. Heat in a wok the water and add the bumbu, the tempe, the salam and the sereh and let it simmer slowly until the fluids have evaporated. Heat in a wok the oil and the the tempe golden brown and serve.

As dinner was obviously served at night, i gave up taking food pics due to crap lighting and we never had any leftover for lunch to be photographed in daylight!
This is great with rice and a dry or wet meat or veg curry.

While on holiday we ate this nearly every night, its a little like a sweet savoury version of peanut brittle, but not so sweet of course, and actually not so brittle, so not really alot like peanut brittle at all!!!! but its the closest i could come at a comparison. i hate tempe usually but this, i really dug!
What i did find really interesting about Indonesian cooking is that although they use coriander seed alot in recipes they never, ever use the grown leaves like the Thais and Vietnamese do. I wonder why?

my crowded hour[s]

Ive been mad crazy busy at work lately preparing to go on 3 weeks leave. Today is my last day at work and I have just crossed off the last project on my list. Jesus that felt good. Celebrated with a Kit Kat (shhh) and a cup off tea. Goin' craaaaaazy i know! I'm hours ahead of schedule and I can feel a stress release headache coming on. Mid-winter school holidays here I come! Not too sure about internet access where we are staying, i do recall something about wifi... will post if and when I can. Totally looking forward to weeks with the kids and the bloke, sun, a good book or five and some drafted webpage ideas. Any suggestions on that front?

damn, its beautiful

Im off to the Barossa Valley this morning for work and damn, the weather is beautiful. Clear blue skies and sun, looking forward to seeing all the grape vines in their autumn glory and consuming some fabulous Barossa produce. Last week in country Victoria it nearly killed me walking past the op-shops knowing i had no time to stop and browse, thinking of all the treasures that are really only findable and affordable in rural second hand shops AND I WAS WALKING BY! So my lovely colleague has actually factored in some op shop time this trip! What a treasure! Thats my kinda work trip and my kinda colleague!

deep purple people

walking down the air bridge to board my plane this morning i notice the tall thin guy ahead, decked out in black , long black (dyed?) hair and expensive black sunglasses. I whack him in the back with my overnighter when i pull up too close, too quickly. "opps, Sorry. "sure. Its ok" I notice an english accent. we wait. i turn around to deal with my momentary boredom. More guys in black pull up, swarms of tall black with motley accents. I notice long frizzed out hair, and lots more expensive sunglasses, all still on face. Definitely ageing rockers...flying cattle class?? Gotta be ex famous dudes i decide. The confidence despite the ageing bodies and burnt out hair and the look of rock n roll fame rules...not aussies i decide. We board the plane and im dying to know who these guys are. Then i spot HIM. The short guy...toned, a pout and matching flared nostrils (just a whiff of Jagger) tight jeans (black..of course) and tight eyes, definitely a nip and tuck and his whole character just oozes 'the one'. God he looks familiar.... Im surrounded by the black pod and i dont ask. Damn.

Im so curious, but now im a seat ahead and a few aside from the lot so now i cant ask. The elderly woman sitting beside me asks "do you think they are in a band?" "Dressed like that, definitely" i say. She asks me who they are. I dont know and Im about to add theyre a bit too old for me to recognise but stop short realising that i will have to raise my voice for her to hear my response. As they are all within earshot i decide that response is, well, not cool! When we land I politely refuse help from 'HIM', the one ,to retrieve my bag from the overhead and try and appear noncholant and detatched ...what was that all about? Im such an idiot. But, it was definitely an interesting flight home to take my mind of the 30,000 ft crisis i always battle, watching primed rockers eat their plasticwrapped sandwiches and going to the loo.
'parently was a black sabbath/deep purple dude with his posse...definitely not an Ozzy.

i have a dream

I grew up in a pretty special place on Sydney harbour and spent my childhood at the beach, watching boats come and go and fantasising about the waterborne gypsy lifestyle i saw so many living. I love the sound of rigging clinking on the mast, the salt water and feel of the spray, the sound of waves glugging against pilons. So when my neighbours sold up and left for a 3 year, round the world voyage on a boat, taking my 10 yo friend and her brother, i was pretty much green with envy; the closeness with your parents that it affords, the outdoor adventures and cultural wonders to be experienced, the sea, the beach, the sun.

So when i first met my husband and found out he had spent 4 years sailing the world as a single man, being both crew and captain on ocean crossing voyages, i knew he was the man for me. I grew up sailing but not like that; trailer sailers and moths on beach hikes was as exciting as it got. So, when i told him of my fantsay to sail around the world with my family and homeschool aboard a boat i was totally gobsmacked to find that it had been a lifelong dream of his too. SHAZAM! Its the perfect way to travel; low impact, no hotel costs, the best views in the world and SLOW! LOL

We now have a 7 year plan. To buy a second/third/fourth (read affordable) hand Catamaran and say goodbye for 3-4 years to circumnavigate the world. The girls will both have finished school and can choose to join us if, when and where they wish and the boy will be a 7/8 yo bean, a perfect age to leave behind daily land life and go to sea to expereince the adventure that is ocean cruising.

Do you have a long term goal or plan that fills you with so much excitement that you're just bursting?