Gado-gado
The name means roughly "mix-mix", and Indonesian street vendors often toss the vegetables with the sauce straight away. At home it is easier to arrange them in groups on a platter and mix only on the plate. The vegetables are blanched, not raw — a brief dip in boiling water softens them just enough to take a thick sauce. The peanut sauce itself must be as thick as mayonnaise, not pourable; it is loosened only at the table.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Blanching the vegetables 20 min
- Tofu 12 min
- Peanut sauce 15 min
- Assembly 10 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneBoil the potatoes and eggs
Boil the potatoes in their skins until tender (about 20 minutes) and, in a separate pan, the eggs for 8 minutes. Peel and cut the potatoes into thick slices, halve the eggs. These are the only ingredients that cook long — everything else goes into boiling water for under a minute.
Ingredients: 400 g potatoes · 200 g green beans · 250 g white cabbage · 150 g bean sprouts · 1 pcs cucumber · 4 pcs eggs
Blanch the vegetables one kind at a time
Drop them into boiling water one type at a time: green beans for 3 minutes, cabbage for 90 seconds, sprouts for 30 seconds. Move each straight into iced water. Cooked together they would come out uneven — some collapsed, others raw.
Ingredients: 400 g potatoes · 200 g green beans · 250 g white cabbage · 150 g bean sprouts · 1 pcs cucumber · 4 pcs eggs
One vegetable at a time, then straight into ice water.Fry the tofu until crisp
Pat the tofu dry, cut into cubes and fry in hot oil for 8–10 minutes, until every side is golden and firm. Wet tofu spits and refuses to colour — drying it matters more here than the oil temperature.
Ingredients: 300 g tofu · 100 ml oil
Golden and firm on every side.Blend the peanuts with garlic and chilli
Blitz the peanuts with the garlic and chillies to a coarse paste, not smooth butter. Pieces of nut should stay perceptible — that is what separates a homemade sauce from shop peanut butter thinned with water.
Ingredients: 200 g peanuts · 3 cloves garlic · 2 pcs chillies · 1 tbsp tamarind paste · 250 ml coconut milk · 2 tbsp soy sauce · 2 tbsp sugar · 1 pcs lime
Cook the sauce to mayonnaise thickness
Transfer to a pan, add the coconut milk, tamarind paste, soy sauce and sugar and cook for 8 minutes over low heat, stirring. The sauce should fall from the spoon in a thick ribbon. It is loosened only at the table, with water or coconut milk.
Ingredients: 200 g peanuts · 3 cloves garlic · 2 pcs chillies · 1 tbsp tamarind paste · 250 ml coconut milk · 2 tbsp soy sauce · 2 tbsp sugar · 1 pcs lime
A thick ribbon off the spoon — thin it at the table.Arrange in groups, do not toss
Lay out separate groups on a wide platter: potatoes, beans, cabbage, sprouts, cucumber, tofu and eggs. Put the sauce in a bowl in the middle. Everyone takes what they like and mixes it with the sauce on their own plate.
Ingredients: 400 g potatoes · 200 g green beans · 250 g white cabbage · 150 g bean sprouts · 1 pcs cucumber · 4 pcs eggs
Finish with lime at the table
Squeeze the lime into the sauce immediately before serving and check the balance: it should read nutty, sweet, salty and sour at once. Juice squeezed earlier loses its freshness within an hour.
Ingredients: 200 g peanuts · 3 cloves garlic · 2 pcs chillies · 1 tbsp tamarind paste · 250 ml coconut milk · 2 tbsp soy sauce · 2 tbsp sugar · 1 pcs lime
Before you start
Sauce in advance
The sauce thickens to a paste in the fridge and keeps up to 4 days there. Reheat with a splash of water — it works equally well for satay, noodles and roast vegetables.
Which vegetables
The line-up is flexible: broccoli, carrot, spinach, baby corn, anything crisp. Keep to two rules — at least four kinds, and make them differ in colour. This salad is meant to look like a palette.
Without tamarind
Use lime juice plus a teaspoon of rice vinegar. Do not skip the acid altogether — without it a thick, rich peanut sauce is dull and claggy.
