Sauteed tempeh with green beans (tumis tempe dan buncis)

Half a year ago when I went shopping at whole food, my eyes spotted a white long medium package of tempeh. First, I did not believe that it was indeed tempeh, but then it is written clearly as tempeh, not only one kinds but there are few variations natural soy bean only like most you find in Indonesian market, with few grains, with carrots and etc. Since that day whole food has been a tempeh heaven to me.

Tempeh is a good source of protein, dietary fiber and protein, the amount of these nutrient in tempeh is higher than than found in tofu. And tempeh is originally come from Indonesia. I think the best place to eat tempeh and also tofu is probably in Java. During school, I was told by a teacher that both tempeh and tofu is a good substitute to meat. So if you are a vegetarian, this dishes might be appeal to you.

This time, all the ingredients is done very simple, clean, cut and stir and that's it, sounds so easy, don't you think so? So let's start cooking!

Ingredients:

1 block of tempeh (you can buy it at whole food in US)
2 cups of sliced green beans
1/2 cup portobello mushroom; sliced
4 cloves of onions; sliced
3 cloves of garlic; sliced
2 long fresh chilles, deseed then slices
3 tbs tauco (preserved black beans; available at asian market)
1 teaspoon ground corriander
1/2 stem lemon grass
3 keffir lime leaves
2 cm ginger
3 cm galangal
2 bay leaves
olive oil/ vegetable oil (more or less 10-15 tbs)
salt

Direction:

1. Heat the wok add olive oil and then stir fry the tempeh (4 minutes at each side or till it turn brownish), set aside
2. Add the oil again and this time add the onion, garlic, chilles, ginger, galangal and keffir lime and bay leaves, lemon grass, till that nice smell appear, then add the green beans and mushrooms, sauteed for 5 minutes then add the fried tempeh and ground corriander.
3. Add the tauco (preserved black beans) and sauteed for 2-3 minutes, taste the saltiness, add salt if necessary.
4. Turn of the heat and the dish is ready to go as side dish.

ps; You can also add chicken or shrimps into the mix. Cut the boneless chicken, add some salt, ground corriander and pepper, stir fry till bit brownish, for shrimps you can simply add it the same time when you put the tempeh into the mix.