Gado-Gado is an Indonesian salad with a peanut sauce dressing that can be served as part of a “rijsttafel” (rice table, a spread of different Indonesian dishes to be eaten ‘family style’) or as a meal by itself. This version just has vegetables and eggs, but you could also add fried tofu and tempeh to add more protein and change it into a full meal. Unlike many salads, most of the vegetables in gado-gado are steamed or boiled rather than raw. Key to Gado-Gado is to use a good peanut sauce, which means home-made. The peanut sauce makes it quite rich, since the vegetables need to be coated in peanut sauce.
Ingredients
mixed vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli
bean sprouts, rinsed quickly with boiling water and drained
cucumber
hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved
krupuk (Indonesian deep-fried prawn crackers served as garnish, can be omitted)
Preparation
Clean the vegetables and cut into pieces. Put in a steamer.
Steam for 5 to 8 minutes or until barely cooked.
Meanwhile, cut the cucumber into quarters lengthwise, remove seeds, and cut into 2-3 cm (1″) chunks.
Arrange the steamed vegetables on plates (or on a serving dish if you are serving this as part of a “rijsttafel”).
Sprinkle with the bean sprouts. Add the eggs.
Coat the vegetables with a generous amount of warm peanut sauce and garnish with krupuk. Serve with rice.
I am impressed. I can not remember the number of dishes in rijsttafel. I look forward to the rest of them.
Best,
Conor
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LOL! These are my first attempts at Indonesian cooking, so I am not ready yet for a full rijsttafel. Some day…
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That looks like a perfect boiled egg (I know that’s not the point of this post but still the egg looks great)
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Thanks 🙂 I didn’t even cook it sous-vide but simply in a saucepan with boiling water for 6 minutes.
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The highlight of many a trip to Amsterdam was the promise of a great Asian meal. As a big fan of peanut sauce (and unimpressed with some of the bottled versions) I am very grateful for your home-made recipe!
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I doubt that I’ll ever make this dish but I enjoy learning of new ways to use your peanut sauce. I really do need to find an Indonesian restaurant.
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They’re pretty easy to find in the Netherlands… 😉
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Looks very tasty, indeed!
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I love this dish too. Stefan, was you sous vide in repair? For a 2.0 version I would expect you to cook the eggs soft at 62 degrees, veggies a bit higher and microwave the tauge to perfection 🙂
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Hi Jeroen, good idea to cook the eggs sous-vide. Not sure if I’d like the vegetables in gado gado to be cooked at all.
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