🥗 Pecel
Pecel is a Javanese dish of blanched vegetables such as long beans, bean sprouts, spinach and cabbage, dressed with a thick, sweet and spicy peanut sauce. It is served with steamed rice and slices of fried or grilled tempeh. The vegetables stay crunchy, and the sauce brings chili heat, palm sugar sweetness and lime-leaf aroma.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 300 g mixed vegetables (long beans, bean sprouts, spinach, cabbage)
- 200 g tempeh, sliced
- 150 g peanut sauce (sambal pecel)
- 1 red chili, 1 lime leaf
- 1 tbsp palm sugar, salt
- 2 tbsp oil
- 600 g cooked rice
Method
- Blanch each vegetable separately in boiling salted water for 1–3 minutes, then drain.
- Fry or grill the tempeh slices with a little oil until golden.
- Loosen the peanut sauce with hot water, adding chopped chili, the lime leaf, palm sugar and salt to taste.
- Arrange rice, vegetables and tempeh on plates.
- Pour the warm sauce over the vegetables and serve.
How to make it lighter
- Grill the tempeh instead of frying it to save oil — 1 tbsp ≈ 120 kcal.
- Thin the peanut sauce with more water and use 2 tbsp per plate.
- Double the vegetables and halve the rice.
History
Pecel is strongly associated with East and Central Java, with towns such as Madiun and Blitar known for their versions. It is sold today at street stalls and markets across Indonesia, often as a breakfast or lunch plate.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →