Pre-heat the oven to 220°C (200 °C fan) and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Instead of roasting, you can also deep-fry the tempeh, which is the traditional way. If serving this with rice, start cooking it now.

Cut the tempeh into 1cm-wide pieces, add to a bowl with 2 tablespoons of the oil and toss to mix. Then spread them out on the baking tray and roast for 15 minutes or until golden.

Meanwhile, peel, half and thinly slice the shallots; peel and thinly slice the garlic; trim the chillies; trim and cut the beans into 4 cm pieces; bruise the lemongrass with a rolling pin to open the fibres.

Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat, then sauté the shallots, garlic, chillies and lime leaves until the garlic begins to turn golden (1-2 minutes). Add the green beans, lemongrass and salt, reduce the heat and continue sautéing for a minute, then add around 50ml of water to break the frying and steam the beans. Cook until the water has evaporated (1-2 minutes), then add the tamarind water (or dissolved paste), kecap manis, brown sugar and black pepper and continue cooking until the sugar has melted and the sauce begins to bubble all over.

Eventually, add the tempeh and stir until everything is evenly glazed.

Discard the lemongrass and lime leaves, then divide everything between plates and serve as a side or alongside rice as a main.