SAMBAL TERI TEMPE KACANG | SPICY ANCHOVIES WITH TEMPE AND NUTS

Ikan teri = dried salted anchovies. Ikan translates to fish. In Indonesian usually we say fish with the name of the fish. For example, ikan kakap merah = red snapper or ikan hiu = shark, etc. But anyway, I usually explain ikan teri to my non-asian friends as the bacon of Indonesia. Because they're salted and when you fry and serve them, you can't stop eating it! 

It takes about 4 - 5 minutes to fry the anchovies until it's golden brown and you can just serve them with rice and boom! easy meal. 

It's a very easy side dish to make. This time we'll spice things up, add some chilis, a little bit of tempe and nuts for extra protein and you won't feel so guilty for eating dried-fried-salted stuff. This is something you can make in big batches and keep in the freezer. And whenever you don't feel like cooking, just prepare some rice and warm this up. That's what I did when I moved to Holland, it's also  still very much my comfort food!

I like to dice my tempe about 1 cm big because I still like to have some of the chewiness. You can also cut them in thin stick slices if you prefer crispier tempe. This side dish is spicy because of the chilis and it has only three other ingredients for flavoring, garlic and shallot and tomato for some sweetness. I never add salt because the fish itself is already salty. 
Even though this is quite a simple side, when you eat this with a spoonful of warm rice you'll get a couple of different textures and flavors! Of course the peanuts gives nuttiness, but also a crunchy texture and bite. The chew and fermented taste of the tempe gives another flavor dimension. And when you bite into the anchovies, ahh! The salty heaven! With all that texture, the heat of the chili is usually subdued by the rice. But when the rice is super warm, it will punch up the heat!  

Ingredients 

• 150 gr tempe, diced
• 150 shelled peanuts 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced 
• 200 gr dried salted anchovies
• 10 red bird's eye chilli, roughly sliced
• 5 green bird's eye chilli for extra heat (optional), roughly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium shallot, sliced
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 125 ml sunflower oil for frying

Method

• In a medium non-stick pan warm up the oil and fry the tempe on a medium high heat for 5 minutes or until it's crispy and golden brown on the outside. Remove from pan and set aside. Using the same pan, do the same with the peanuts.
• With the leftover oil, fry the anchovies for 5 minutes and stir constantly to avoid the tiny fish getting burnt. Set aside.
• Cook the garlic, shallot and chili until they are soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato and cook for another 5 - 7 minutes to remove the juice and moisture. 
• Add the fried peanuts, tempe and anchovies. Mix well, coat them with all the spicy sauce. Done! 

Notes

• In Holland I find this fish in the asian supermarket. In Asia, for sure you can find it in most markets.
• If you don't like it to be too hot but still want a little heat, you can substitute the birds eye chili with fresh cayenne pepper.  
• If you still want to use the bird's eye chilli and want to lessen the heat, remove the pits and finely chop the chilis.