Sambal Goreng Taoco (Bogor)

Sambal Goreng Taoco

There is something amazing about this recipe. The preparation is very simple and resembles every other Indonesian recipe, but the flavor of this Sambal Goreng Taoco is extremely different. This sambal goreng dish gets its taste from the fermented yellow bean sauce (taoco). The beans are cooked and mixed with salt and wheat flour and then fermented in the sun. I do not bother and just buy taoco in a jar ;-).

This taoco sauce is called yellow sauce too but that is not because of the color but this taoco sauce is made with regular (yellow) soy beans. There exists also black bean sauce made of black soy beans.

Read more about it here.

This taoco adds cleary to the umami flavor in this dish. I think it is very tasty. Because this sambal goreng taoco also contains green beans, it is a full meal next to some white rice. Enak!

Beb Vuyk ( I make all the recipes from her book) does not specify the kind of meat. I think she means: every meat you have left over.

I use 2 free-range pork chops of about 200 grams of meat. I’m going to make a double quantity because we are with three people today. Beb’s recipe is for 1 person in my opinion.

This recipe is ready in 40 minutes and is enough for 1 person.

Sambal Goreng Taoco (Bogor) # 80 translated from Beb Vuyk’s Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, page 94.

Ingredients

• 100 grams of meat
• 100 grams of green beans
• 5 tablespoons of taoco
• 3 tablespoons of sliced onions
• 1 clove of chopped up garlic
• 5 green lomboks
• 1/2 a teaspoon of Javanese sugar
• 1 salam leaf
• 1/10 block santen (coconut cream)
• 4 tablespoons of oil

1. Cut the meat into small cubes.
2. Wash and break the beans.
3. Cut the green lomboks and fry them (without first rubbing them) together with the onions and garlic and the meat.
4. Add the beans after a few minutes.
5. When the beans start to become tender, a splash of water can be added and the block santen.
6. If the santen is dissolved then add the taoco and the salam.
7. Let this sambal goreng simmer until the meat is cooked.

Taoco as I said, I just buy in a jar at my local Asian store. I use no less than 10 tablespoons because I’m going to make a double amount. It sounds a lot, but as you can see it is fine compared to the rest.

I still have dried green lomboks (chili peppers). I do not chop them, as Beb says, but add them in their entirety to the dish and sauté them. In this way, not too much spiciness is released (my daughter – 8 year old-) joins.

So my green beans can be added. I let this simmer for a moment (3 minutes) because I use pork and it does not take very long.

Then the coconut can be added. I still had some thick coconut milk left, so I use that instead of santen (coconut cream). For a 1/10 block santen, I use about 100 milliliters of coconut milk. But I double the amounts because I make twice as much.

The salam leaf (toko) and the taoco can only be added now. A hard block of santen takes a while before it completely melts. With coconut milk it goes fast.

Beb does not explain when the Javanese sugar can be added, but I add it now too.

I let my sambal goreng taoco simmer for a few minutes so the sauce thickens. But I do not leave it too long, I want the beans to stay a bit crunchy.

We enjoy this sambal goreng taoco dish a lot. It is super umami in flavor and a complete meal because of the vegetable and meat mix. We eat it with white rice and finish it completely.

Selamat Makan!

Want to make more sambal goreng by Beb Vuyk? View all sambal goreng recipes on this blog.