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Tahu gejrot
Fried tofu in sweet-sour sauce
Cirebon's torn fried tofu puffs in a thin, sour-sweet palm sugar broth with pounded garlic and fiery chilli
Tahu gejrot is street food from Cirebon on the north coast of West Java, where vendors carry their kit on a shoulder pole and serve it in little clay plates called cobek. Hollow fried tofu puffs are snipped into pieces and drenched in a runny palm sugar and tamarind sauce, poured over freshly crushed garlic, shallot and bird's eye chilli. It's a mid-afternoon snack: sweet, sour, garlicky and as hot as you can take it, with the puffy tofu soaking up every drop. Chef's tip: crush the garlic, shallot and chilli raw in the serving bowl and pour the sauce over while it's still warm, so the aromatics bloom without losing their bite.
- Total time
- 20 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 2
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 2 ⅛ oz palm sugargrated; or dark muscovado
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- ¾ cup water
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) (optional)
For the bowls
- 9 oz fried tofu puffsabout 16; or firm tofu, see step 2
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 shallotspeeled
- 4 red or green bird's eye chillies2 for mild, 10 for Cirebon heat
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil (optional)only if frying your own tofu
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Put 2 ⅛ oz palm sugar, 1 tbsp tamarind paste, ¾ cup water, ½ tsp salt and 1 tsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) in a small pan over a medium heat. Simmer for 4–5 minutes, stirring, until the sugar dissolves and the sauce looks like thin, clear, dark tea. It stays runny; that's correct. Strain if your tamarind has seeds.
5 minStep 2: If you can't get ready-made puffs, cut firm tofu into 3 cm cubes, pat very dry and fry in hot 2 tbsp vegetable oil over a medium-high heat for 6–8 minutes until puffed, golden and crisp outside. Otherwise warm 9 oz fried tofu puffs in a dry pan over a medium heat for 2–3 minutes until slightly crisp.
4 minStep 3: In each shallow bowl (a stone mortar is traditional), crush half the 2 cloves garlic, 3 shallots and 4 red or green bird's eye chillies with a pestle or the end of a rolling pin to a coarse, juicy mash.
2 minStep 4: Snip or tear the tofu puffs into bite-sized pieces straight over the bowls, so their soft insides are exposed to soak up the sauce.
Step 5: Pour the warm sauce over and stir lightly so the chilli and garlic mix through. Eat at once with a spoon or toothpicks, while the tofu still has a little crispness. Drowning the tofu long before eating is the common mistake — it turns spongy and loses its puff.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 290 kcal
- Protein
- 13 g
- Carbs
- 34 g
- Fat
- 13 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does tahu gejrot take?
- About 20 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 2 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it very spicy?
- It has some heat. Use less chilli for a milder version, or more if you like it hot.
- What can I use instead of palm sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
- What can I use instead of garlic?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
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