Gado-gado

Name: Gado-gado
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Indonesia
Ingredients: 200 g tempeh, sliced; 200 g firm tofu, sliced; 200 g green beans; ¼ white cabbage, shredded; 200 g beansprouts; 2 potatoes, sliced; ½ cucumber, sliced; 3 tbsp oil; 120 g peanut butter; 1 garlic clove; 1 red chilli; 1 tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar; 1 tbsp tamarind or the juice of a lime; 1 tbsp tamari; 200 ml hot water; Krupuk or plant-based prawn crackers, to serve

Local name : Gado-gado

Indonesia's great salad, steamed vegetables with golden tofu and tempeh, coated in a spicy peanut sauce and served with krupuk crackers.

VeganGluten-free#tempeh#tofu#peanut sauce#steamed vegetables#salad

Photo : Timothy A. Gonsalves · CC BY-SA 4.0

Prep: 25 min
Cook: 20 min
Total: 45 min
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Easy

Method

Steam the potatoes for 15 minutes. Add the green beans and cabbage for the last 5 minutes. Blanch the beansprouts for 30 seconds.
Fry the tofu then the tempeh in the oil, 3 minutes per side. Salt them.
For the sauce, blend the peanut butter with the garlic, chilli, sugar, tamarind, tamari and hot water until pourable.
Arrange the vegetables, cucumber, tofu and tempeh on a platter.
Spoon over the warm peanut sauce just before serving, with the krupuk on the side.

Gado-gado is built from whatever is to hand: spinach, cauliflower or carrots work just as well. The sauce is the heart of the dish, taste it until sweet, salty and sour are in balance.

Nutrition · per serving

Calories: 571 kcal
Protein: 31.6 g
Fat: 35.5 g
Carbohydrate: 42.2 g
Fibre: 9.3 g

An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.

Frequently asked questions

My peanut sauce thickened and seized. How do I fix it?

Peanut butter tightens as it cools. Whisk in hot water a spoonful at a time until it coats again. Make it a little looser than you think you need, because it will only thicken further.

The sauce tastes flat. What is missing?

Almost always acid or sweetness. Add tamarind or lime in small amounts, then palm sugar, tasting between each. It should read sweet, salty and sour at once before it ever meets the vegetables.

My tempeh tastes bitter. Is that normal?

Older tempeh turns more bitter. Browning it properly softens that note, and a minute in warm salted water before frying helps too. Choose tempeh whose white bloom is still clean, without spreading black patches.

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