Gado-Gado (Salad with Peanut Sauce)
Blanched vegetables, potato, boiled egg, and tofu on one plate under a generous pour of sweet-savory-spicy peanut sauce — Indonesia's beloved salad. Filling on its own, with kecap-manis peanut sauce tying every element together.
Ingredients
- Vegetables & toppings
- Cabbage0.25 head
- Green beans100 g
- Bean sprouts2 cups
- Potatoes · boiled2
- Boiled eggs2
- Tofu · pan-fried200 g
- Cucumber1
- Tomato1
- Krupuk · prawn crackers, optional
- Peanut sauce
- Roasted peanuts · or 3/4 cup peanut butter1 cup
- Garlic2 cloves
- Red chili2
- Kecap manis · sweet soy, or soy + brown sugar2 tbsp
- Lime juice · or tamarind1 tbsp
- Sugar · palm sugar1 tbsp
- Salt1 tsp
- Warm water · to thin0.75 cup
Steps
- ⏲ 15 min
Boil the potatoes and cut into bite-size pieces; boil the eggs and halve them.
- ⏲ 5 min
Blanch the cabbage, green beans, and bean sprouts separately 30-60 seconds, then rinse in cold water and drain.
- ⏲ 5 min
Pan-fry the tofu until golden and cut into bite-size pieces.
- ⏲ 5 min
Peanut sauce: grind the peanuts, garlic, and chili, then mix in the kecap manis, lime juice, sugar, salt, and warm water until thick (or use peanut butter for ease).
- ⏲ 3 min
Arrange the blanched vegetables, potato, tofu, cucumber, tomato, and eggs on a plate.
Spoon the peanut sauce generously over the top and serve with krupuk. Toss gently just before eating.
Variations
- Gado-gado lontong: Serve with compressed rice cakes for a full meal.
- Adjust the heat: Add more chili or a spoon of sambal.
- Quick sauce: Peanut butter + kecap manis + lime juice alone works.
More detail and the reasons why (1)
- Add tempeh: Fry tempeh alongside or instead of the tofu. Tempeh is boiled beans knitted together by the hyphae of a Rhizopus mould, which is why — unlike tofu — it does not fall apart in the pan.
Tips
- Blanch the vegetables separately to keep their color and crunch.
- Make the peanut sauce thick and thin with water — it should coat, not run.
- Kecap manis is the key sweetness; substitute soy sauce with dissolved brown sugar.
- Add the sauce just before eating so the vegetables don't go soggy.
The basics behind this dish
- Knife Skills: Grip, Cuts, and Why Size MattersHow you hold the knife matters more than how fast you cut. The pinch grip, the claw hand, and why uniform size is a cooking decision rather than a cosmetic one.
- Balancing Flavour: Salt, Acid, Sweet, Fat, HeatWhen something tastes like it is missing something, it is usually salt or acid. Five dials, the order to turn them, and how to taste properly.
- Heat Control: Preheating, Oil, and Reading the PanThe same ingredients become a different dish depending on pan temperature. When to add the oil, how to read heat by sound, and which dishes want low heat instead.
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