Gado-gado with vegetables and peanut sauce

Gado-gado means something along the lines of "mixed together," and that describes the dish quite accurately. It's one of Indonesia's most beloved salads – a colorful collection of both raw and blanched vegetables, boiled eggs, crispy tofu or tempeh, and boiled potatoes, all tied together by a warm, creamy peanut sauce. The sauce is the star: nutty and slightly sweet from kecap manis, with the tang of tamarind and a hint of sambal that makes every mouthful dance. It's food that is healthy, satisfying, and full of texture, and it can easily stand alone as a rich vegetarian main course.

• Cuisine: Indonesian
• Time: 35 minutes
• Servings: 4 people
• Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Boil the potatoes until tender, and blanch the long beans and cabbage just until they retain a bite and color. Keep the cucumber and bean sprouts raw and crispy.
2. Fry the deep-fried tofu (or tempeh) until golden and crispy in a little oil in a pan, then drain it on paper towels.
3. Boil the eggs for 8-9 minutes until the yolk is just firm, cool them in cold water, and peel them.
4. Prepare the peanut sauce: coarsely blend the roasted peanuts and mix with kecap manis (sweet soy), lime juice, palm sugar, crushed garlic, sambal oelek, and a teaspoon of tamarind.
5. Gradually thin the sauce with hot water until it is smooth and creamy with a pourable consistency.
6. Taste the sauce. It should be strong, balanced between salty, sweet, sour, and spicy – adjust with more lime or sambal to taste.
7. Arrange the vegetables, halved eggs, tofu, and potatoes neatly on a large platter or in bowls.
8. Pour the warm peanut sauce over just before serving, and top with extra chopped peanuts.

Tips

• The sauce should be strong and creamy – thin it a little at a time so it doesn't become too watery.
• Feel free to change the vegetables according to the season and what you have in the fridge – the dish is flexible.
• If you want to make it completely vegan, omit the egg and use fried tempeh as the main protein.
• Only pour the sauce over just before serving so that the raw vegetables retain their crispness.