Gado-gado


Vegetable medley with a spicy peanut-sauce topping. This is the typical entry in Western cookbooks trying to attempt something Indonesian; this version is authentic.

Vegetables:
2 boiled potatoes, cut in eighths
2 carrots, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, cut in eighths
1 cup steamed long beans, chopped in 1-inch pieces
1½ cups raw cabbage, chopped
1 cup steamed or raw bean sprouts

Lauk:
hard-boiled eggs, cut in half
tempe goreng [fried tempe], cut in 1-inch strips (not salted)
tahu goreng [fried tofu], cut in 1-inch strips (not salted)

  1. Mix about 4 tablespoons of bumbu pecel to a runny consistency (runnier than for nasi pecel).
  2. Set out the vegetables on one plate, the eggs, tempe, and tofu on another, and the bumbu pecel in a bowl.
  3. Fill individual bowls with desired mix of vegetables and lauk.
  4. Top with peanut sauce and toss like a salad.
Serves 3–4

Hint: Toss this at the very last minute; otherwise you get a soggy dish of unappetizing vegetables.