Comfort Food Storys: What Does Home Taste Like?  Oseng Tempeh – Ochi from Indonesia

In the first episode of "Comfort Food Storys", Rachel meets Ochi from Indonesia. Together, they cook the Indonesian dish "Oseng Tempeh". Ochi talks about how she found her feet in Germany, how her kebab helped her through the first few weeks, and how she found learning to drive challenging because of the dialect.

 

Ochi's mum's recipe:

Ingredients for two servings:

• 400 g tempeh (finely chopped)
• 200 g long beans (e.g. frozen princess beans)
• 4 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced)
• 1 shallot (thinly sliced)
• 1 large red chilli (deseeded, cut diagonally)
• 1 piece of galangal (peeled, slightly crushed)
• 2 tbsp sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis)
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground white pepper
• 150 ml water
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• Jasmine rice (as a side dish)

Preperation
Bake or deep-fry the tempeh:

• Bake in the oven at 180 °C (fan oven) for approx. 25-30 mins.
• Alternative: Deep-fry in a hot air fryer for 25 min. at 180 °C (shake halfway through) or fry in hot oil until semi-cooked

• Fry the beans in a pan with oil or alternatively: cook for 10 minutes at 180 °C in a deep fat fryer.
• Cut the garlic and shallots into thin slices. Deseed the chillies and slice diagonally. Press the galangal lightly.

• In a rice cooker (ratio 1 part rice to 1.5 parts water).

• Heat the oil, sauté the garlic, shallots, chilli and galangal until fragrant.
• Add the beans, stir for 1-2 mins.

• Pour in 150 ml water, season with kecap manis (sweet soya sauce), oyster sauce, salt and pepper.
• Simmer for approx. 3-4 mins. until the beans are soft.

• Add the crispy tempeh, mix well, leave to stand for 2 mins. so that it absorbs the flavours.

 

June 2025