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Gado-gado Jakarta with prawn crackers
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4.99 from 61 votes

Gado-gado Jakarta

This gado-gado recipe is simple and easy to make, and it uses real peanuts. With hard-to-resist flavour, this gado-gado will soon be your go-to salad when you fancy a bit of nutty sauce.
Author: Devy Dar
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Lunch
Cuisine: Indonesian
Servings: 6 portions

Equipment

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

For the peanut sauce

  • 7 ounces roasted peanuts Or fried peanuts. See the note.
  • 4 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 3 tablespoons palm sugar Or dark muscovado sugar and dark brown sugar.
  • 3 teaspoons tamarind paste see the note.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • 2 tablespoons Sambal Terasi/ Sambal Oelek see the note.
  • 2 fresh bird’s eye red chillies see the note.
  • ¼ teaspoon dry shrimp paste or 1 tsp of fish sauce - optional.
  • 2 cups water.
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice.
  • 3 tablespoons kecap manis sweet soy sauce.

The vegetables and more

  • 4 ounces spinach fresh or frozen.
  • 5 ounces bean sprouts.
  • 1 Lettuce.
  • ½ small cabbage.
  • 100 grams green beans.
  • 1 large carrot.
  • ½ Cucumber.
  • 200 grams extra-firm tofu.
  • 4 eggs.

For garnish

  • Prawn crackers.
  • Fried onions optional.
  • Kecap Manis/ sweet soy sauce.

Instructions

For the sauce:

  • Using pestle and mortar, grind the peanuts with chilli, tamarind paste, sugar, salt, and shrimp paste (if using) until the nuts become as smooth as possible. 
  • Add in lime juice, and water little by little as you mix it. 
  • Add more water if the sauce is too thick. But do it little by little as you don’t want the sauce to become runny.
  • You can use the blender or food processor if you wish. Just put everything together and give it a blitz until you get a nice thick peanut sauce with a slightly runny consistency. Your sauce should be as thick as heavy cream (double cream).

For the vegetables:

  • Have the spinach blanched with hot boiling water for a minute or two, drain and set aside. 
  • Soak the bean sprouts in hot boiling water for a minute or two, drain and set aside.
  • Cut the lettuce in thick slices.
  • Slice the cabbage thinly and boil for about 2-3 minutes until al dente. Drain and set aside.
  • Cut the green beans into 1-inch lengths, and parboil them. Set aside.
  • Cut the carrot in julienne sticks and boil them for about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
  • Boil the eggs, let them cool and slice. Set aside.
  • Cut potatoes in big cubes and boil until thoroughly cooked. Set aside. 
  • Cube the tofu and shallow-fry until slightly-light golden.
  • Slice the cucumber.
  • Arrange the vegetables on a plate however you like, then pour the peanut sauce generously over the veggies, and sprinkle some fried onions on the top if you use.
  • Enjoy your gado-gado with prawn crackers.

Notes

  • You can fry raw peanuts instead. When you do, keep stirring as you’re frying the nuts so that they will be evenly cooked.
  • If you only have tamarind block in your pantry, you can make tamarind paste. Soak a 1-inch tamarind block in hot boiling water. Let it soften, and sieve it to get its juice. 
  • You can make your own Sambal Terasi, as I explain in this Sambal Goreng Terasi recipe. If you don’t want to use this, you can put the chilies and Terasi (dried shrimp paste) twice as much as the recipe calls. Or, you can adjust as you try and taste the sauce.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 470kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 125mg | Sodium: 1195mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 23g

Disclaimer

Nutritional info in this recipe is only estimate using online calculator. You should refer to it as a guide only. Please verify with your own data if you seek an accurate info.