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Indonesian

Gado-gado

Contains egg (no meat or fish)

A hearty salad of blanched vegetables, potato, boiled egg, fried tofu and tempeh, smothered in a sweet, tangy, lightly spicy peanut sauce.

Gado-gado is an Indonesian salad, ready in about 55 minutes and made with roasted peanuts, garlic and fresh red chilli. It serves 4 and is rated easy to cook.

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Gado gado is vegetables mixed together with peanut sauce
Photo: Piknikdong / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-SA-4.0
Prep
25 min
Cook
30 min
Total
55 min
Serves
4
Level
Easy
Calories
682

Ingredients

4 servings

For the peanut sauce

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Blend the peanuts, garlic (opens in a new tab) and chilli to a coarse paste, then simmer with the palm sugar (opens in a new tab), kecap manis (opens in a new tab), tamarind, salt and water, stirring, until thick and creamy. Finish with lime juice (opens in a new tab).

    Loosen with warm water — the sauce should coat a spoon thickly.

  2. Step 2

    Boil the potatoes (opens in a new tab) until tender, then slice. Boil the eggs (opens in a new tab) for 9 minutes, cool and halve.

    • 20 min
    • medium heat
    Potatoes boiling in a pot
    How it looks · Photo: Lionel Ntasano on Pexels

  3. Step 3

    Blanch the green beans (opens in a new tab), cabbage (opens in a new tab), bean sprouts (opens in a new tab) and spinach (opens in a new tab) one after another in boiling water until just tender; drain and cool.

    • 6 min

  4. Step 4

    Fry the tofu (opens in a new tab) and tempeh (opens in a new tab) in the oil until golden on all sides.

  5. Step 5

    Arrange the vegetables, potato (opens in a new tab), tofu (opens in a new tab), tempeh (opens in a new tab), egg (opens in a new tab) and cucumber (opens in a new tab) on plates and pour over the warm peanut sauce.

    About this dish

    Origin
    Jakarta (Betawi), Indonesia · Commonly attributedMore food from Indonesia
    Dish
    Lunch · Dinner · Salads · Main courses
    Cooking method
    Boiled, Blanched, Pan-fried
    Taste
    nutty, sweet & savoury, tangy, spicy (chilli heat)
    Diet
    Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Dairy-free · High-protein
    All labelsVegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Ovo-vegetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · Dairy-free · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · High-protein · Low-sodium · DASH-style
    Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
    Good for
    Make-ahead · Meal-prep friendly
    Cook more with
    Roasted peanuts · Garlic · Fresh red chilli · Jaggery / palm sugar · Kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) · Tamarind paste
    Techniques
    Pan-frying · Boiling · Simmering · Blanching

    Allergens

    • Contains: Eggsfrom egg
    • Contains: Peanutsfrom roasted peanuts
    • Contains: Wheatfrom kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
    • Contains: Glutenfrom kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
    • Contains: Soyfrom kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), tofu, tempeh

    Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

    Nutrition

    682 kcal per serving

    Estimated

    1 serving ≈ 548 g · recipe makes 4

    Where the energy comes from

    • Protein 20%
    • Carbohydrate 27%
    • Fat 53%
    Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
    NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
    Energy682 kcal124 kcal
    Protein36.6 g6.7 g
    Carbohydrate48.8 g8.9 g
    Net carbohydrate——
    Sugars——
    Added sugars8.9 g1.6 g
    Fibre——
    Fat42.6 g7.8 g
    Saturated fat6.9 g1.3 g
    Trans fat0.1 g0 g
    Cholesterol186 mg34 mg
    Sodium477 mg87 mg
    Salt equivalent1.2 g0.2 g
    Vitamins & minerals per serving
    Potassium
    1293 mg
    Calcium
    514 mg
    Iron
    5.9 mg
    Magnesium
    191 mg
    Vitamin A (RAE)
    —
    Vitamin C
    51 mg
    Vitamin D
    1 µg
    Vitamin B12
    0.5 µg
    Folate (DFE)
    160 µg

    How these numbers were made

    • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
    • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
    • Optional ingredients are not included: spinach.
    • Jaggery / palm sugar: Brown sugar (FDC 168833) used as a stand-in for unrefined cane jaggery and palm sugar.
    • Kecap manis (sweet soy sauce): Hoisin sauce (FDC 172886) used as a stand-in for this thick palm-sugar-sweetened soy sauce; sugar and sodium differ by brand.
    • Tamarind paste: Raw tamarind pulp (FDC 167763). Commercial concentrates vary in water content.
    • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
    • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

    Good to know

    Tips

    • Street vendors grind the sauce to order on a stone mortar (cobek) for each customer.

    Common mistakes

    • Overcooking the vegetables — they should keep some crunch, then be cooled so they don't wilt under the sauce.
    • Making the peanut sauce too thick: it should pour like heavy cream; loosen with warm water as it stands.

    Serve with

    • Top with prawn crackers and fried shallots; serve with lontong (compressed rice cakes).

    Storage

    • Keep sauce and vegetables separately for up to 3 days.

    Reheating

    • Warm the sauce gently with a splash of water.

    Variations

    • Pecel (Indonesia): A Javanese cousin with a spicier, kencur-scented peanut sauce over blanched greens.

    Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

    Sauces, chutneys & dips for this dish

    Recipe DNA

    How this dish is built

    Built from the recipe’s own sections. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

    What the dish is built around

    Main ingredient

    Used in steps 2, 3, 4, 5

    Reviews & corrections

    Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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