← Nouns Cooking · Indonesian & Filipino

Ingredients

• 450 g firm tofu (or 200 g ready-made tofu puffs), patted dry and cut into 3 cm cubes
• oil, for deep-frying
• 200 ml Water
• 25 g Palm sugar, grated
• 3 tbsp Kecap manis (sweet soy)
• ½ tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Rice vinegar
• ½ tsp tamarind paste (optional)
• 4 Shallot, peeled
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 4 bird's eye chillies (red and green)
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (optional)

Method

1. Heat 5 cm of oil to 175°C (350°F) and fry the tofu in batches for 6–8 min until puffed, golden and hollow-sounding. Drain on kitchen paper. (Skip this if using tofu puffs.)
2. Simmer the water, palm sugar, kecap manis and salt in a small pan for 3 min until the sugar dissolves. Take off the heat and stir in the vinegar and tamarind (if using).
3. Pound the shallots, garlic and chillies in a mortar until roughly crushed; keep it chunky.
4. Tear each tofu piece open and pile into a shallow bowl. Scatter over the pounded aromatics, pour on the warm sauce and leave for 5 min to soak in. Top with coriander and eat with toothpicks.

Tips

• Raw shallot and garlic are the point here; pound them just before serving so they stay sharp.
• Kecap manis contains wheat; use a gluten-free sweet soy if needed.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Daily Cooking Quest Cook Me Indonesian