Pecel
From Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking, Knopf, 1973.
ISBN 0-394-40271-5 or 0-394-74867-0.
Or: Vegetable Salad with a Spicy Peanut
Sauce (and pronounced ``pechel''). This is a wonderful dish for
dinner parties -- a combination
of raw, blanched, boiled and fried foods served with peanut
sauce. It's
easy to make as well.
Ingredients
- 8 oz tempeh,, (a soy bean product, which you can find in asian
stores, health food stores, and some grocery stores).
- 1t salt
- 2-3 cloves garlic, mashed
- 1.5 teapoons ground coriander
- Oil
- Hard Boiled Eggs
- Fresh boiled spinach
- Cabbage
- Mung-bean Sprouts
- Boiling Potatoes
- 1 Recipe
Spicy
Peanut Sambal
Directions
To make the tempeh: Cut the tempeh into sticks that are
about 2.5-inches by .5 by .25. In a bowl, mix together the salt,
coriander and 1/2-cup water. Set the oil to heat in an 8-inch skillet
over a medium flame. Meanwhile, put half the tempeh sticks into
the bowl with the seasonings and stir them about to coat them. Remove
the tempeh from the bowl, shaking off excess moisture as you do
so, and put them into the heated oil. Stir and fry for 5-6 minutes
until tempeh is golden to reddish-brown and crisp. Remove with a
slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Do a second batch. Be careful
when stirring the tempeh, as it breaks quite easily.
Cabbage: You can either use raw cabbage or drop it into boiling
water for a minute, then drain and rinse under cold water. Drain again.
Potatoes: Boil them in their jackets, and let cool (not in the
refrigerator). Peel and cut into 1/2-inch cubes.
Sprouts: Rinse them well. Break off their threadlike tails if you
feel up to it. Use them raw or drop them into boiling water and boil
rapidly for 15 seconds. Drain and rinse under cold water. Gently
squeeze out all extra moisture and fluff up again.
Eggs: Slice them lengthwise into quarters.
To serve, put each vegetable and the peanut sauce into its own bowl, and
let everyone pick and choose and put sauce on top.
Jim Plank
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