Gado gado

To my regret, I have yet to visit Indonesia. The closest I’ve managed to get so far is watching The Year of Living Dangerously – and eating delicious Indonesian dishes like gado gado.

Making gado gado is all about the preparation – boiling potatoes and eggs, steaming green beans, blanching cabbage and beansprouts, frying the tempeh, and achieving a perfect balance of flavours in your peanut sauce. After that, simply a matter of a few moments to pile everything on a plate and tuck in.

Gado gado
(serves 4 generously)

• 4 small potatoes
• 4 eggs
• a large handful of green beans
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 2 cups white cabbage, thinly shredded
• 2 fried tofu puffs (optional)
• 2 Tb sunflower oil
• 1 block of tempeh, cut into 1/2″ strips
• 1 Tb dark soy sauce (or ketjap manis)
• half an English cucumber, cut into long strips
• 500g baby spinach
• prawn crackers to garnish

For the spicy peanut sauce:

• 3/4 cup natural peanut butter
• about 1/2 cup of coconut milk
• 1 Tb tamarind paste
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• juice of half a lime
• sambal oelek (or other chilli sauce) to taste

1. Place the potatoes and eggs in a small pot. Bring to the boil, and cook until the potatoes are soft and the eggs are hard. Drain, rinse under cold water, and slice.
2. Steam the green beans, drain, rinse under cold water and set aside.
3. Bring a pot of water to a rolling bowl. Add the bean sprouts, blanch for 30 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon. Rinse under cold water and set aside.
4. Now add the cabbage to the boiling water. Blanch for about three minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water and set aside.
5. Wash the tofu puffs under hot water to remove excess oil. Pat dry with paper towel and slice into strips.
6. Heat the sunflower oil in frying pan over medium heat. Brush the tempeh slices with ketjap manis (or soy sauce) and frying until crisp and browned. Place on a paper towel lined plate to cool.
7. To make the peanut sauce, mix together the peanut butter, coconut milk, tamarind paste, soy sauce, garlic, lime juice and chilli sauce. The sauce should be thick, but pourable – adjust the balance of coconut milk and peanut butter to achieve the right consistency, and balance the other flavours to your liking.
8. To assemble the gado gado, first place a mound of spinach leaves in the centre of a dinner plate. Cover it with the vegetables, eggs, tofu and tempeh. Top with a scoop of peanut sauce and arrange prawn crackers round the edge of the plate.

Tags: Asian food, dairy-free, green beans, peanuts, potatoes, tempeh, vegetarian