Summer arrived a few weeks ago here in Far North Queensland and its well and indeed salad weather. One of my favourites salad is Gado Gado. Typically Asian as are most of my favourite recipes its Indonesian with Gado Gado meaning mix mix and being Asian its neither summer nor winter. My love of Asian food is definitely thanks to my 80’s Darwin childhood and an ode to many a Sunday morning spent at the Rapid Creek market {one of Darwins oldest and most authentic Asian markets}.
I first tried Gado Gado when I started driving myself to the markets as a cocky 17-year-old. Gado Gado along with green paw paw salad became a Sunday staple along with a chicken satay and spring roll. Like the paw paw salad, they would make it too taste and to order, and I would watch intently as they used there machete with such precision all while conversing to their neighbours across the way in their stark native tongue. It was amazing to watch. Driving myself meant I wasn’t on anyone’s time but my own and so I could wait for the well-known hawker’s dish.
The vegetables themselves can be anything as far as I’m concerned, it’s the dressing that’s the main drawcard; a sweet tarty peanut dressing that’s not to be confused with a satay sauce. Gado Gado is traditionally served with a glutinous rice cake and fried shallots, but you can have some boiled rice served separately.
This is a Jamie Oliver recipe, and the dressing is so far one of my favourites.,
Gado Gado.
The Salad.
- 400 g new potatoes
- 4 large eggs
- 400 g firm silken tofu {or shredded cooked chicken}
- sesame oil
- ½ Chinese cabbage
- 2 ripe tomatoes
- 1 handful of radishes
- ½ cucumber
- 2 handfuls bean sprouts
- ½ bunch of fresh coriander
- fried shallots, optional
- prawn crackers, optional
- 1 fresh bird’s-eye chilli, optional
- rice per instructions, optional
The dressing.
- 1 clove of garlic
- 50 g palm sugar
- 120 g crunchy peanut butter
- 1–2 fresh red chillies
- 2 limes, juice of
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon low-salt soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon tamarind paste
How to.
- Start by prepping all your salad ingredients. Scrub the potatoes and cook in boiling salted water for around 15 minutes, or until tender, then halve or slice up.
- Soft-boil the eggs for 6 minutes, or longer if you prefer them more cooked.
- Cut the tofu into 2½cm chunks and fry in a splash of sesame oil for around 15 minutes, or until golden, then sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
- Finely shred the cabbage if you want it raw or, if you’d rather blanch it (which is traditional), cut it into 2cm slices, place in a colander and slowly pour a kettle of boiling water over the top. For me, this is the perfect amount of heat to soften the cabbage, but means you keep much of the delicious nutrients in there – feel free to apply this to any other seasonal greens you can find, too.
- Cut the tomatoes into wedges, quarter the radishes, shred the chicken {if using} and slice the cucumber. Season everything from a height with a little salt.
- Next, put all the sauce ingredients into a blender, peeling the garlic and grating in the palm sugar (if needed), then blitz until smooth. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning, making sure the acidity of the lime sings through, so tweak with more, if needed.
- Traditionally, you’d take a little bit of everything, put it into a bowl and pour the sauce over the top, which is a fine way to serve it. I like to do the reverse because I feel that once you pour the sauce over you can’t see the care and attention that has gone into the preparation of the ingredients. So I spoon the sauce between four bowls, spread it up around the sides, then divide the ingredients around the bowls, taking a bit of pride in making them look nice.
- Serve with the fried shallots, prawn crackers and adding some boiled rice.
{image is from here}
