Gado Gado
Serious Eats / Melati CitrawirejaConsidered one of five national dishes by the Indonesian government, gado gado is a cherished meal that street vendors, restaurants, and home cooks serve across the country. The simple but hearty dish typically consists of blanched cabbage, mung bean sprouts, green beans, potatoes, fresh cucumber, and lettuce, along with other accouterments like hard-cooked eggs and fried tofu or tempeh. There are no hard rules about what you can and cannot include—any seasonal vegetable is fair game—and many, including myself, garnish the dish with fried shallots. Krupuk, Indonesian crackers made from shrimp, tapioca, or the melinjo nut, often accompany the dish.Serious Eats / Melati CitrawirejaMany Indonesians believe that gado gado was created to imitate the salads Dutch colonizers ate. The word “gado” comes from “digado” and “menggado,” words in the Jakartan language Betawi meaning “to eat without rice.” Though this is technically true of the dish, many serve gado gado with steamed rice or lontong, compressed rice cakes traditionally wrapped and steamed in banana leaves.Throughout Indonesia, there are many riffs on gado gado. Like gado gado, the following variations, which go by different names, pair fresh vegetables with savory peanut sauce gussied up with aromatics and spices, such as kencur (sand ginger), makrut lime leaves, and extra garlic, among many other seasonings. Pecel: Green beans, cabbage, baby spinach, and mung bean sprouts with steamed rice and peanut sauce.Karedok: Green beans, cabbage, cucumbers, mung bean sprouts, lemon basil and peanut sauce made with kencur and shrimp paste.Lothek: Green beans, cabbage, baby spinach, mung bean sprouts, boiled eggs, fried tempeh, and peanut sauce.Ketroprak: Rice noodles with vegetables, tofu, and peanut sauce.Gado gado is one of my mum’s go-to dishes for large crowds, and it often makes an appearance at dinner parties. Just before serving, she’d toss all the ingredients together with peanut sauce and bring the gado gado out on a big serving platter. Like my mum, I often prepare the dish for dinner parties—but I prefer to keep the ingredients and sauce separate to prevent the vegetables from getting too soft. What makes the salad such a great dish for gatherings is also what makes it a wonderful weekday lunch or weeknight dinner: It’s simple, delicious, and relatively easy to prepare in advance. All you have to do is slice up a variety of vegetables (blanching some and keeping others raw), boil some eggs, and whip up a rich peanut sauce to dress it all with. Paired with store-bought fried tofu, it’s a filling, vegetable-packed meal that takes 30 minutes to assemble—which helps explain why it's such a popular recipe throughout Indonesia's homes, restaurants, and street stalls. For the Peanut Sauce: If using roasted peanuts, process in a high-speed blender or food processor until a paste with the texture of wet sand forms, 3 to 4 minutes. (It will be coarser than peanut butter; you will get about 1 cup). Transfer peanut paste to a small bowl and set aside.Serious Eats / Melati CitrawirejaAdd shallots, garlic, red chiles, bird’s eye chiles, palm sugar, salt, and shrimp paste to the now empty food processor or blender and pulse until the mixture resembles cooked oatmeal, about 30 seconds to 1 minute, using a flexible spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons of water if mixture is too thick and not turning in the food processor.Serious Eats / Melati CitrawirejaIn a small saucepan, bring lime leaves, tamarind, and 1 cup (240ml) water to a gentle boil over medium heat. Simmer, using a spoon or spatula to break up the tamarind pulp as much as possible, to infuse the flavors, about 5 minutes. Remove the lime leaves and remaining tamarind solids.Serious Eats / Melati CitrawirejaStir in ground peanuts and chile paste and continue to cook until the mixture starts bubbling, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring often to prevent sauce from sticking to bottom of the pot, until thick and creamy, 4 to 6 minutes. If you prefer a looser sauce, add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency. Add lime juice, if using, and season to taste. Set aside.Serious Eats / Melati CitrawirejaFor the Gado Gado: Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a rolling boil over high heat. Add potatoes, and cook until fork tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Using a colander, drain potatoes; set aside. Serious Eats / Melati CitrawirejaBring a large saucepan of salted water to a rolling boil over high heat. Prepare an ice bath by filling a large mixing bowl with water and ice. Add Cabbage to boiling water and cook until translucent and just wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Using tongs or a fine-mesh strainer, transfer to ice bath. When cool, remove cabbage from ice bath and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet lined with paper towels to dry. Set cabbage aside. Repeat with green beans, blanching until bright green and tender, 1 to 2 minutes; transfer to ice bath, then towels. Finally blanch bean sprouts until just wilted, 15 to 30 seconds; transfer to ice bath, then drain on towels.Serious Eats / Melati CitrawirejaTo Assemble: Arrange potatoes, cabbage, green beans, bean sprouts, cucumber, eggs, and tofu on a large platter, then serve: Diners should select an assortment of ingredients from the platter, transfer them to their individual plate, drizzle with 2 to 3 tablespoons sauce, and garnish with shrimp chips and fried shallots.Serious Eats / Melati CitrawirejaSpecial EquipmentFood processor, blender, or mortar and pestle; medium saucepan; colander, tongs, or fine-mesh strainerNotesThe recipe can easily be scaled up if desired. To make this dish vegetarian, omit the terasi. For peanut allergies, use cashews or almonds instead. Peanut butter is a convenient option, however, I encourage you to at least start with store-bought roasted peanuts. The texture and flavor does not compare.1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce; 15g) sambal oelek can be substituted for 2 red chiles.Shrimp paste, makrut lime leaves and kecap manis are often available at Asian grocery stores, especially those specializing in Southeast Asian ingredients. While shrimp paste, makrut lime leaves, and lime juice aren’t necessary, they make a sauce that’s more deeply flavored. Look for fried tofu in the refrigerated section at Asian markets. They can be labeled as deep fried tofu, tofu puffs, or soy puffs (I like Nature’s Soy brand). Baked tofu also works well. I always buy my fried tofu from a specialty tofu shop called Thanh Son Tofu in Northern Virginia. Perhaps there’s a similar store near where you live. Make-Ahead and StorageThe peanut sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days. To reheat, warm peanut sauce in a saucepan set on medium-low heat. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to loosen to desired consistency.
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