Home > Tauge Goreng (Noodles and Bean Sprouts with Tauco Sauce)

Tauge Goreng (Noodles and Bean Sprouts with Tauco Sauce)

Posting Date: 11/13/16

Tauge Goreng (Noodles and Bean Sprouts with Tauco Sauce) is a vegetarian dish made of yellow noodles topped with bean sprouts, slices of fried tofu, and tauco and oncom sauce. It is then drizzled with sweet soy sauce . It is street food sold in Jakarta and Bogor in West Java. Even though the name is Tauge Goreng which means stir fried tauge (bean sprouts), the bean sprouts are not stir fried. They are dipped quickly in boiling water. The sauce uses tauco and oncom. Tauco (Salted Soya-Beans Paste) is fermented soybean paste and you can find it sold in a jar or bottle. I use Super Tauco (Salted Soya Beans Paste) from Kokita brand. You can find Tauco in large Asian stores where they sell Indonesian stuffs. If you live in a city where there is no large Asian stores, it is most likely the store doesn't sell Tauco. You can substitute it with Thai's Salted or Fermented Soybean Paste (Tao-jiao). Since Tauco has been salted, you may want to go light on the salt. That's why the recipe calls for a pinch of salt. You can add more if you think it is still not salty enough. Oncom originated from West Java and a byproduct of soy bean production. Oncom is difficult to find outside Indonesia. So, I normally skip it when I make Tauge Goreng. In addition to tauco and oncom, the sauce also uses shallots, garlic, chili pepper, and tomatoes. I sometimes think this dish is Indonesian's version of Italian spaghetti because of the tomatoes used in the sauce even though it doesn't taste exactly the same. You can adjust the amount of chili pepper you use, depending on your tolerance to heat. I use 1 jalapeno pepper. In the ingredients, I put tofu as optional since not everyone likes it. In Jakarta, the dish is served with sambal (chili sauce) on the side and people can add it to the dish to add heat if they prefer. That's why I put sambal oelek as optional. As mentioned above, the dish is drizzled with sweet soy sauce. I found adding sweet soy sauce makes it taste better since it adds sweetness and complements the tartness from the tomatoes.

This recipe serves for 4 people.

Ingredients:

Optional: 1 block of tofu, rinsed, drained on colander for 30 min, and diced into 1" cubes
Optional: vegetable oil if using tofu
4 bundles of yellow egg noodle. I use Imitation Canton Style Egg Noodle. You can use fresh noodles. Just make sure any noodles you choose don't have after taste. The amount of fresh noodles is for 4 servings/people since the recipe is for 4 people.
For sauce: 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
For sauce: 3 small shallots or 1 large shallot, minced
For sauce: 4 cloves of garlic, minced
For sauce: 1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded and diced. You can use more jalapeno pepper if you like the heat.
For sauce: 5 tablespoons taoco (soy bean paste). I use Kokita brand of Super Tauco (Salted Soya Beans Paste). It has been salted, so you need to adjust the amount of salt you add. Kokita also makes Sambal Tauco. I don't use it because it has added chili pepper. If you cannot find Indonesian's tauco, you may use Thai's Salted or Fermented Soybean Paste (Tao-jiao).
For sauce: 6 Roma tomatoes, diced. Do not throw away the juice of the tomatoes when you dice them. We will use it for the sauce.
For sauce: 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of water depending on how juicy your tomatoes are
For sauce: 1.5 tablespoon sugar or to taste
For sauce: pinch of salt
For sauce: pinch of pepper
For sauce: 2 green onions, chopped
1 cup of bean sprouts, rinsed in warm water and drained them.
drizzle of sweet soy sauce
Optional: sambal oelek

Methods:

If using tofu, heat vegetable oil and fry diced tofu until golden brown. Take the tofu out with slotted spoon and drain the tofu on a plate lined with paper towel. Set the tofu aside.
Cook the noodles according to package direction. Once cooked, drained and rinsed them with cold water so that they won't stick with each other. Let them drain on collander for 5 min or more and set them aside.
Turn on the stove to medium high heat and heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil on a pot. Add shallots, garlic, and jalapeno pepper. Saute them until fragrant and shallots become soft and cooked while making sure they are not burned. Add tauco and saute it for 1 min. Add tomatoes including the juice from dicing tomatoes and saute them for about 2 min. Add 1/2 cup of water, sugar, salt, pepper, and green onion. Let the sauce boiling. Depending on how juicy your tomatoes, you may want to add more water so that you have enough sauce for each person. Taste it and add more salt, sugar, and pepper if needed. Once the sauce is boiling, let it simmer for 5 min. Turn off the heat.
Boil water in a small pot. Once the water is boiling, add bean sprouts and let the bean sprouts cook for about 1 min. Drain the bean sprouts and rinse it with cold water to stop the cooking process. Let them drain on colander.
Divide the noodle, tofu, and bean sprouts into 4 servings. Top each plate with the sauce and drizzle it with sweet soy sauce. You can add more sweet soy sauce if preferred. I found sweet soy sauce complement the tartness from the tomatoes, so I tend to put more. Serve it with sambal oelek on the side.

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