Indonesian cuisine is interesting and very diverse, with each of the islands featuring different culinary schools. We had many chances to try homemade delicatessen but here we finally decided to provide the recipe of Gado Gado, a salad with peanut sauce dressing. That’s simply because this dish is the one we love the most and we only got it (several times) by street sellers.
Gado Gado means potpourri, mixture. It has Javanese origin and it is traditionally prepared over the ulekan, a flat stone used as mortar. Every house has its own take. This is how the man from a warun (family owned stall) in Jakarta prepared it for us.
INGREDIENTS (4 serves):
2 potatoes
¼ cabbage, chopped
2 cucumbers
50 g of bean sprout
200 g of green bean
100 g of tofu
100 g of tempeh
100 g of peanuts, toasted not salted
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1 lime
½ teaspoon of terasi (shrimp paste)
½ L of tamarind water
Salt, chili and brown sugar just enough
DIRECTIONS:
Ground in the mortar finely chopped onion and garlic together with sugar, chilli, peanuts and shrimp paste. Add the water and the juice of the lime and blend till receiving a viscous sauce. Place in the container the boiled potatoes, cucumber, cabbage and so on. Toss and coat abundantly all the veggies with the sauce.
In Java, where this dish come from, you may or may not find slices of boiled eggs depending on the district.
TIPS TO OTHER LONGITUDES: You would hardly find tamarind juice. If not just use water. Tamarind adds a slightly pickle aftertaste but it is not a key ingredient. Water is. :)
The shrimp paste is available in Asian shops.
