Tempeh is a gift to all home cooks from Indonesia. Made from fermented compressed soy beans, it’s an intelligent ingredient equivalent to meat in terms of protein, subtle and nutty in flavour and chewy in texture. Happily, it is also now widely available in most large UK supermarkets. Here, the tempeh is cooked in a typical Indonesian way – that is, fried until crisp, then coated in a sticky, spicy sweet soy sauce and liberally sprinkled with salted peanuts. In fact, the only anomaly is the leeks, making this dish mostly Indonesian but via a field in Lincolnshire.

Leek and tempeh manis

You’ll probably need a trip to an online or local Asian supermarket to pick up the kecap manis, a sweet soy sauce; and sambal oelek, a zingy and magical Indonesian chilli sauce. While you’re there, you could also buy the makrut lime leaves, palm sugar and tempeh, but those are also available in most big supermarkets these days.

Prep 10 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 4

2 large leeks (330g)
6 tbsp neutral oil, plus a little extra if need be
400g tempeh, cut into 1cm cubes – I like the Tofoo and Tiba brands
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
6cm x 2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
4 tbsp sambal oelek
3 fresh or frozen makrut lime leaves, deveined and finely shredded
1½ tbsp palm sugar, or light brown soft sugar
1 tbsp kecap manis, plus extra for drizzling
Fine sea salt
60g roasted peanuts, finely chopped
Steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Top and tail the leeks, cut them in half lengthways, then finely slice the whites and greens. Put the shredded leeks in a colander, wash them well in cold water, then sit the colander in a bowl of fresh cold water and leave for five minutes, swishing them from time to time with your hands. Drain the leeks and set aside.

Put two tablespoons of the oil in a wide pan over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the tempeh and fry for eight to 10 minutes, turning until the cubes are golden and crisp on all sides, then transfer to a plate.

Pat the leeks dry. Pour three tablespoons of oil into the same pan and tip in half the sliced leeks. Cook on a medium-high heat for about eight minutes in all, leaving them undisturbed for a couple of minutes at a time before stirring, so they crisp up. Once the leeks are crisp, transfer them to a second plate. Repeat with the remaining leeks, adding more oil if need be.

In the same pan, add the remaining tablespoon of oil and the garlic and ginger, and fry, stirring, for two minutes. Add the sambal oelek, shredded lime leaves, palm sugar, kecap manis, half a teaspoon of salt and two tablespoons of water, then mix in all the browned tempeh, three-quarters of the crisp leeks and all but a sprinkle of the peanuts until well combined.

Put the tempeh and leek mixture on a platter, drizzle with a little extra kecap manis, then top first with the remaining leeks followed by the remaining peanuts. Serve with hot jasmine rice.