
Updated post on 9-9-2016
Updated a vegetarian recipe. For vegetarian recipe, please omit the red colour ingredients.
INTRODUCTION
I used to travel a lot when I am in the corporate world. Most of the time, I need to travel and stay in the hotel by myself and at times, the trips will stretch to weeks or months. I still remember my 2 years secondment to Hong Kong and Shanghai, more than 80% of my stay was in the hotel. Room services was very common and cafes at the hotel become my “dining hall”. During these times, one of my favourite order was the “look-alike” home cooked was gado gado since the food was served with peanut aka satay sauce. Of course, other favourites in the hotel will include Singapore Hainanese Chicken rice and Singapore Fried Bee Hoon (新洲炒米粉)。
That is how I first got in touch with gado gado. Gado gado in essence is Indonesian’s salad with peanut sauce. However, unlike Western salad, it is a one pot dish, meaning one can have gado gado as the main meal.
Gado gado in Indonesia means plural for “mixing” action and it shall not be confused with “gaduh gaduh” in Malaysia which means heated arguments.
There are a few versions of Gado gado in Indonesia depending on which part of Indonesia you are in and this version is called “Gado Gado Siram” which was what I usually have in hotels and Indonesian Restaurants. Essentially, vegetables were cooked separately, put together in one plate and add some peanut sauce were poured on top, mixed and served.
PREPARING OF PEANUT SUACE (Serving of about 5-6 adults)
What is required
Ingredients A
- 50 grams of chilli powder (or dry chilli)
- 100 grams of garlics (vegetarian please omit)
- 40 grams of galangal (blue ginger)
- 40 grams of lemon grass
- 1 tablespoon of cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon of coriander powder
(You can either use the powder form of the above ingredients or use its original form of raw ingredients)
Ingredients B
- 500 grams of peanuts (coarsely ground)
- 10 tablespoons of castor sugar or gula melaka (coconut palm sugar)
- 5 tablespoons of cooking oils
- Pinches of salt
- Pinches of turmeric powder (optional)
- 3 big tablespoons of tamarind paste (assam)
- 5 cups of water
Steps of Preparation
- Use a food processor to blend all the ingredients (except powder ingredients) in “A” until fine. Alternatively, you can use a mortar and pestle to pound the non-powder ingredients until fine as in the picture.
- In a big frying pan, add the cooking oil and stir fried the ingredients as in A until fragrance. Add in tamarind, water and remaining ingredients B (coarsely chopped peanut, sugar, salt) and bring to boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer until the sauce thickens and oil start to appear on top of the peanut sauce. Off the heat and stir in pinches of turmeric powder (optional) and add some hot water if the peanut sauce is too thick. Set aside for later use.
PREPARING THE SIDE INGREDIENTS
No quantities will be stated here as it is very much depends on your personal preferences. Most ingredients are substitutable except the most common and must have are long beans, fried tau kwa). I did not prepare all the ingredients as I am having it by myself and I will not be able to finish if I used all the ingredients. However, I will list out the other side ingredients.
- Peanut sauce (as mentioned above)
- Some long beans (cut into 4-5 cm) – blanched
- Some bean sprouts – blanched
- Some kangkong (convolvulus) – blanched
- Some hard boiled eggs – cut into half
- Some taukwa – deep fried and cut into slices – See below
- Some cucumbers _ julienned into small chunks
- Some lettuce – chopped
- Some Empiring/Melinjo crackers (Indonesian padi oats crackers)-optional
Not in the pictures above
- Some cabbages – blanched
- Some potatoes – boiled and cut into cubes
- Some lontong (rice cakes) – cut into small pieces
- Some tempeh (soya bean cakes) – cut into small pieces – optional
Deep Frying the Taukwa
- Marinate the taukwa (drier version of bean curd) with some salt, white pepper and coriander sauces. Deep fried under medium heat until the skin is crispy yet the inside is soft. Cut into small pieces and set aside for future use.
Blanching The Vegetables
- In a wok or frying pan, put some water, drizzles of oil and some salt and bring the water to boil. Add in beansprouts, green beans and kangkong (convolvulus) in this order. Take out and set aside for later use.
ASSEMBLING THE INGREDIENTS AND SERVINGS
- Arrange the lettuce on the serving plate and place all blanched vegetables , taukwa, eggs on top of it.
- Pour the warm peanut sauce over and garnish with Melinjo or prawn crackers and additional fried shallots, if desired.
CONCLUSION
- This is a rather simple dish to prepare except a bit laborious. However, it is a healthy dish as it is packed with vegetables and I like to eat it as a one dish meal.
- Only pour sauce over the vegetables before serving otherwise, the peanut sauce may become watery due to the water excreted from the vegetables. If the sauce is too thick, add in some hot water and heat it up. Warm sauce is always preferred. For left over sauces, you can freeze it and used for other noodles dish (Satay Bee Hoon) or as dips for Satay.
Hope you like the post today and have a nice day. Cheers.
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