Gado-Gado (Indonesian Salad with Peanut Sauce)
Gado-gado means 'mix-mix', and that's the dish: lightly blanched vegetables, boiled potato, egg, fried tofu and tempeh, tossed or draped in a rich, spicy-sweet peanut dressing and finished with krupuk. It's Jakarta street food, a complete vegetarian meal, and one of Indonesia's national dishes — a salad substantial enough to be dinner.
- Prep time
- 25 min
- Cook time
- 20 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 200g (7 oz) green beans, trimmed
- 200g (7 oz) white cabbage, shredded
- 150g (5 oz) bean sprouts
- 2 medium potatoes, boiled and quartered
- 4 eggs, boiled (7 minutes for jammy yolks) and halved
- 200g (7 oz) firm tofu, cubed and fried until golden
- 150g (5 oz) tempeh, sliced and fried (optional but traditional)
- 1 cucumber, sliced
- Krupuk (prawn crackers) or emping to serve
- Fried shallots to finish
- 200g (1⅓ cups) roasted unsalted peanuts (or 6 tbsp crunchy peanut butter)
- 1-2 tablespoons Spice Island Sambal Oelek (to taste)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar
- 1 tablespoon tamarind paste (or juice of 1 lime)
- 250ml (1 cup) warm water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- 1
Make the dressing: grind the peanuts in a food processor until mostly smooth. Add garlic, sambal, kecap manis, palm sugar, tamarind, and salt, then blend with the warm water.
- 2
Simmer the dressing in a small pan for 5-8 minutes, stirring, until thick, glossy, and pourable. Taste — it should be sweet, savoury, sour, and spicy in balance. Set aside to cool slightly.
- 3
Blanch the vegetables separately in salted boiling water: green beans 3 minutes, cabbage 2 minutes, bean sprouts 30 seconds. Refresh each in cold water and drain well.
- 4
Fry the tofu (and tempeh, if using) in a little oil until golden and crisp on the outside.
- 5
Arrange everything on a platter: blanched vegetables, potato, cucumber, tofu, tempeh, and halved eggs.
- 6
Pour the warm peanut dressing generously over the top, scatter with fried shallots, and serve with krupuk. Toss at the table — gado-gado means 'mix-mix'.