Ingredients
The paste
- 4 tbsptauco, fermented yellow soybean paste, bought
Tumis tauco
- 300 gprawns or beef, sliced
- 200 ggreen beans or petai
- 3 tbspoil
Bumbu
- 6shallots
- 4 clovesgarlic
- 5red chillies
- 2tomatoes, chopped
- 2cm galangal, bruised
- 2salam leaves
- 1 stalklemongrass, bruised
Seasoning
- 1 tbsppalm sugar
- 1 tbsptamarind water
- salt
- 200 mlwater
To serve
- steamed rice
- with lalapan, raw vegetables
Directions
- Taste yours before cooking with it, since the salt level varies enormously between producers.
- Fry it for 5 to 8 minutes until it is fragrant and the oil separates and rises to the surface. Add the galangal, lemongrass and salam leaves and cook a minute.
- Fry the tauco in the bumbu for 2 or 3 minutes before any liquid goes in. Frying the paste briefly takes the raw fermented edge off it and deepens the flavour, in the same way as frying tomato paste.
- Add the prawns or beef and stir-fry until just coloured. Add the water, palm sugar and tamarind, and simmer 5 minutes.
- Add the beans or petai and cook until just tender. It will very probably need none.
- Adjust with more palm sugar or tamarind rather than with salt. It should be savoury and funky first, then sweet, then sour, with the chilli behind.
- Serve it with steamed rice and a plate of raw vegetables. Store the jar in the fridge once opened and it keeps for many months, since the salt preserves it.
Technique
- Cianjur and Medan are the two best known production centres.
- Tauco asin is salty and tauco manis is sweetened, and they are not interchangeable.
- It keeps for months refrigerated after opening.
Substitutions
- Chinese doubanjiang without chilli, or Japanese miso, which are related but not identical.
- There is no substitute for the specific flavour of Indonesian tauco.
Variations
- Sambal tauco, made hotter and used as a condiment.
- With petai, which is the Sundanese classic.
- With tofu and tempeh, as a vegetarian dish.
History
A Chinese-Indonesian ferment produced in Cianjur and Medan since the nineteenth century, sold in earthenware jars.
Frequently asked questions
What is Tauco?
Tauco is a sauce & condiment from Indonesia: salty paste of fermented yellow soybeans stirred into stir-fries and sambals. A Chinese-Indonesian ferment produced in Cianjur and Medan since the nineteenth century, sold in earthenware jars.
How long does Tauco take to make?
Tauco takes 15 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes enough for 6 servings of tumis tauco. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Tauco?
Yes, within limits. Chinese doubanjiang without chilli, or Japanese miso, which are related but not identical. There is no substitute for the specific flavour of Indonesian tauco.
What is the most important thing to get right in Tauco?
Adjust with more palm sugar or tamarind rather than with salt. It should be savoury and funky first, then sweet, then sour, with the chilli behind.
