Gado gado is one of the well known dishes from Indonesia. Although it looks like a salad dish, gado gado is also eaten as a one dish meal in Indonesia. Loaded with a variety of vegetable, the carbohydrate in the dish comes from lontong (compressed rice cake) and potatoes. Tofu, egg and tempeh are the protein sources.
Whenever I see gado gado served at a hotel buffet here, my plate will be piled high with veggies drenched in the sauce. The creamy, sweet, sour and spicy peanut sauce is what makes this a great salad. It may look intimidating with the amount of ingredients, but the recipe is pretty flexible with the options of salad ingredients that you like. In mine are potato, beansprout, firm tofu, tempeh, long beans and egg.
Gado gado sauce is not to be confused with satay sauce, which is also a peanut sauce. The traditional method of making the sauce is to use the pestle and mortar. The dry ingredients are ground first, then water is added to achieve the desired consistency. Pounding the dry ingredients with the pestle and mortar method will give a more fragrant sauce, however I prefer the faster method of using the food processor. I made extra sauce to keep in the fridge,so this dish can easily be prepared with practically any fresh vegetables anytime.
I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest: Indonesia, hosted by Alice from I Love. I Cook. I Bake.
- Gado Gado Sauce
- 100g Peanut – roasted
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 25g [u][url href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006AAJVT0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006AAJVT0&linkCode=as2&tag=juasde-20″ target=”_blank”]Palm Sugar[/url][/u] (Gula Melaka)
- 2-5 Bird’s Eye Chili (Cili Padi) – seeded (use more if you prefer the heat)
- 1/2 teaspoon [u[url href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GL2E1LU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00GL2E1LU&linkCode=as2&tag=juasde-20″ target=”_blank”]]Shrimp Paste[/url][/u] (Belacan/ Terasi) – omit if making vegetarian sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon [u][url href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TNJLVA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002TNJLVA&linkCode=as2&tag=juasde-20″ target=”_blank”]Tamarind Pulp[/url][/u] (Asam Jawa) – soaked in 1 tablespoon of warm water to get the juice
- juice of 1/2 Lime
- 1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce (Coconut Aminos or Tamari for gluten free option)
- 1 cup hot water
- Salt to taste
- Gado Gado Ingredients
- 2 Potatoes – cut into quarters & boiled
- 2 Eggs – boiled and cut into quarters
- Bean Sprouts – blanched
- Long Beans – cut into 2 inch long, blanched
- Firm Tofu – pan fried/baked & cut into cubes
- Tempeh – cut into slices & pan fried/baked
- Optional Salad Ingredients
- French beans – cut into 2 inch long, blanched
- Spinach – blanched & roughly chopped
- Cabbage – blanched and thinly sliced
- Cucumber – cut into cubes
- Chayote (Indonesian: labu siam) – boiled
- Melinjo Crackers (Emping)
- Roast peanuts in oven at 170C for 5mins.
- Place peanut, garlic, palm sugar, chilies, and shrimp paste in a food processor. Grind until everything is well mixed. Remove into a mixing bowl.
- Add tamarind juice, lime juice, sweet soy sauce and half cup of water. Stir well and add more water to get to the consistency of peanut sauce that you like. [br][img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GadoGado1-3.jpg” alt=”” width=”200″ height=”150″ class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-8541″] [img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GadoGado1-5.jpg” alt=”” width=”200″ height=”150″ class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-8543″]
- Rub 1 teaspoon vegetable oil onto firm tofu and sliced tempeh and place into oven to bake for 15 mins. Alternatively, place onto the oiled tofu and tempeh onto pan to fry for 1 min on each side on medium heat.
- Meanwhile, bring 2 small pot with water to boil to cook eggs and potatoes. After 1 min, switch off the fire of the pot with eggs and let it sit for 12 mins. Remove shell and cut egg into quarters. Cook the potatoes until soft when pricked with a fork.
- Blanched the rest of the vegetables in boiling water and remove with slotted spoon. Beansprout (30 sec), long beans (2-3mins)
- To serve, place a portion of each salad ingredient onto a serving plate/bowl. Serve the peanut sauce and mix well. It can be eaten warm or cold.[br][img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GadoGado1-2.jpg” alt=”” width=”200″ height=”150″ class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-8540″] [img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GadoGado1-1.jpg” alt=”” width=”200″ height=”150″ class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-8539″] [br][img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GadoGado1-4.jpg” alt=”” width=”200″ height=”150″ class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-8542″] [img src=”http://www.justasdelish.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GadoGado1-6.jpg” alt=”” width=”200″ height=”150″ class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-8545″]
Comments
9 responses to “Gado Gado (Indonesian Salad with Peanut Sauce)”
This is one giant bowl of amazing. It takes quite a long time to make but my word, the flavours, the textures and the look of it all is so very worth it.
Made it tonight, yummy! I thought the sauce would be difficult to make but actually quite easy : )
Hi Janet, happy you like the recipe, and the sauce is much easier than satay peanut sauce, which can also be used for satay if really lazy
It might be a very famous dish, but I have never even heard about it (not to mention eating it). I don’t know much about Indonesian cuisine alas, so I’m glad to learn about this salad. It looks fantastic.
Indonesian cuisine is not very popular in other countries, except maybe Holland because Indonesia was under Dutch colony. If you like peanut sauce, you will like this salad
Hi Shannon, your gado-gado looks so tempting and delish. Healthy too. Like Phong Hong, whenever I have a chance, would take a big helping at buffets too. You take care and cheers 🙂
What a hardy and delicious looking salad. Lots of different textures and I love that peanut sauce!
This looks so good. I would love to try to make it just once! I would hope that I could do it.
Shannon, I love gado-gado! And like you, I always take a big helping at buffets when I see gado-gado. Would love to make this at home as I haven’t eaten gado-gado in ages.