Tempe Mendoan

Hi everyone...
Today I want to present one famous indonesian recipe made of another protein alternative for vegetarians or vegans:
"Tempe Mendoan":

We know that tofu is an alternative protein ressource for people who want to eat less meat for health reason or live as vegetarian. Meanwhile it's getting easier to find in eurepean market, it's not only available in asian stores but also easy to find in organic stores and normal supermarkets. Nearly all of south east and east asian societies are familiar with Tofu from all kind.
But "Tempe or Tempeh" is originally only known in Indonesia, although it's meanwhile also familiar in other asian countries through indonesian immigrants. A Japanese has even registered a patent for it, something that I find rather unethical :(. I always have a critical opinion about patent right, especially for something related to culture and natural ressources (not result of technical/medical research, modern art or such)
.And now it's also sold widely in eurepean market, so I need not to miss this food anymore :).
Not like Tofu which is made from soya milk so that it's rather soft, tempe is made from soya bean which is fermented using "ragi" (some kind of fungus spora). It contains high fiber and protein.
This is how uncooked tempe looks:   

There are so many various recipes for tofu and tempe in Indonesia so that the vegetarians and vegans could have many delicious warm meals and high in protein with rather low cost ^_^. One doesn't need to always buy those expensive meat subtitute products to make tasty foods.
Here I want to present one of my favourite dish made of tempe. Indonesians like to eat it as a side dish together with rice and veggie soup but also simply to eat it for snack time and bite some chilis with it :-D.
To make crispy "Mendoan" one need following ingredients (note, some people like to add some eggs in it, but if we want to make it crispy then we should leave egg out):
- 250 gram tempe
- 100 gram all purpose flour
- 50 gram rice flour
- 2 pieces scallions (chopped)
- 2 cm tumeric (or 1/5 tsp tumeric powder)
- 5 pieces Garlic clove
- 1 tsp coriander seed/powder
- 1/4 pepper powder/seed (optional... I don't always use pepper for this recipe)
- salt and sugar (please adjust the amount to your personal taste)
- water (adjust the amount of water until the consistency of the mixture is similar to a pancake mixture. If you like, you can also add a little bit coconut milk to make it taste richer, but it's optional)

Instruction:
Grind tumeric, garlic, coriander, pepper, sugar and salt and then mix them together with all purpose flour, rice flour and chopped scallion. Pour some water and stir it slowly until the mixture has the similar consistency with pancake mixture. Slice the tempe thinly in rectangular form(ca. 4- 6 mm), dip it into the mixture and then deep fry it.
Serve it warm. Indonesians would prefer serve them with some Thai bird eye chilis, but it's just a personal preference.

The ingredients are all easy to find and the cooking method is also rather easy, so just give it a try.
It's very tasty and nice for coffee time too. I prefer to enjoy tea or coffee with this than with cakes, cos I just don't have sweet tooth :).
I'm already drooling again now ^_^.
Next time I would share another tasty traditional recipe made from tempe or tofu.
See ya...