nasi tumpang — East Java, Indonesia

Nasi tumpang is plain steamed rice served under a generous ladle of sambal tumpang, a thick, spicy sauce whose depth comes from tempeh that has been left to ferment a little further than usual before being cooked down. It is reported from East Java, where the sauce is prepared at markets and small stalls early in the morning and ladled over rice for breakfast or a midday meal, often alongside boiled vegetables, bean sprouts and a few crackers for crunch. To make the sauce, over-fermented tempeh is mashed and simmered in coconut milk with a paste of chilies, garlic, shallots, galangal and kaffir lime leaf until it thickens into a rich, reddish sauce with a distinct pungent edge from the fermentation; it is then ladled hot over a mound of rice together with blanched vegetables such as long beans or bean sprouts. Its defining trait is that sharp, almost cheese-like pungency running through the sauce, a direct result of pushing the tempeh's fermentation further than in most other tempeh dishes, which sets this East Javanese plate apart from milder tempeh preparations served over rice elsewhere on the island.