Gado Gado
Blanched and raw vegetables, egg and fried tofu under a thick peanut sauce loosened with tamarind and kecap manis.
- Prep
- 30m
- Cook
- 20m
- Total
- 50m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 3 | Blanch the hard vegetables in sequence, coldest water first 10m Longest cooking first, out while still with a bite. Same pot, same water. | Lay the vegetables out on a platter and spoon the sauce over 5m A platter, not a tossed bowl. Each component should still be identifiable. | ||
| 200 g | ||||
| 200 g | ||||
| 150 g | ||||
| 200 g | Fry the aromatics, then pound with the peanuts 8m Frying the shallots and garlic first removes the raw bite the sauce otherwise keeps. | Make the peanut sauce and slacken it to a coating consistency 12m It thickens as it cools. Take it off looser than you want it. | ||
| 3 | ||||
| 3 cloves | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 2 tbsp | ||||
| 2 tbsp | ||||
| 3 tbsp | ||||
| 1 tbsp | ||||
| 200 ml | ||||
| 1 tbsp | ||||
| 1/2 tsp | ||||
| 300 g | Fry the tofu until the surfaces are firm and golden 8m | |||
| 3 tbsp | ||||
| 4 | Boil the eggs 8 minutes and peel under running water 9m | |||
| 1 | ||||
| a handful | ||||
| 3 tbsp | ||||
-
Blanch the hard vegetables in sequence, coldest water first
10m- potatoes 3
- green beans 200 g
- cabbage 200 g
- beansprouts 150 g
Longest cooking first, out while still with a bite. Same pot, same water.
-
Fry the aromatics, then pound with the peanuts
8m- roasted peanuts 200 g
- shallots 3
- garlic 3 cloves
- red chillies 3
- neutral oil 2 tbsp
Frying the shallots and garlic first removes the raw bite the sauce otherwise keeps.
-
Make the peanut sauce and slacken it to a coating consistency
12m- from 2 Fry the aromatics, then pound with the peanuts
- tamarind paste 2 tbsp
- kecap manis 3 tbsp
- palm sugar 1 tbsp
- hot water 200 ml
- lime juice 1 tbsp
- salt 1/2 tsp
It thickens as it cools. Take it off looser than you want it.
-
Fry the tofu until the surfaces are firm and golden
8m- firm tofu 300 g
- neutral oil 3 tbsp
-
Boil the eggs 8 minutes and peel under running water
9m- eggs 4
-
Lay the vegetables out on a platter and spoon the sauce over
5m- from 1 Blanch the hard vegetables in sequence, coldest water first
- from 3 Make the peanut sauce and slacken it to a coating consistency
- from 4 Fry the tofu until the surfaces are firm and golden
- from 5 Boil the eggs 8 minutes and peel under running water
- cucumber 1
- prawn crackers (optional) a handful
- crisp fried shallots 3 tbsp
A platter, not a tossed bowl. Each component should still be identifiable.
Why some of it is raw
Gado gado sets cooked against uncooked deliberately. The blanched vegetables go soft and sweet and take the sauce well; the raw cucumber and half-blanched beansprouts stay cold, wet and crunchy, and reset your palate between mouthfuls of a sauce that is otherwise rich enough to dull it. The tamarind is doing the same job chemically — acid cuts the peanut fat and stops the whole plate tasting like one thick, sweet note. Skip either contrast and it becomes heavy within four bites.
Notes
- Sauce thickness is the thing people get wrong. It should ribbon off the spoon, not sit in a mound.
- Everything except the tofu can be prepared hours ahead and served at room temperature, which is how it is usually eaten.
- Leave out the eggs and it is entirely vegan; add extra tofu and boiled tempeh in their place.