Gado Gado is a traditional Indonesia salad with a mixture of blanched or steamed vegetables including kangkung, bean sprout, chayote, cabbage, corn with fried tofu, boiled sliced egg and boiled potato. The salad is drizzled with spicy peanut sauce infused with lime, served with shrimp crackers, with a sprinkle of fried shallots on top.

Gado gado by far is one most recognizable Indonesian dish. It is enjoyed by locals and tourists alike, and available from street-side carts, food stalls, and even in most restaurants.

Gado Gado can also be found on the menu of Indonesian restaurants around the world. Every single Indonesian restaurant I’ve ever visited whether it is in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, or Amsterdam, featured it on their menu. It’s internationally popular!

Fresh Gado Gado Made To Order

When I was a teenager growing up in Jakarta, my mom had a favorite gado gado place. The place was on the front porch of the owners’ house (seriously).

We would go there when we were craving a quick bite to eat. Gado Gado was always refreshing and filling.

The lady would make the gado gado right in front of us, and to our liking. We would tell them how many bird’s eye chili we wanted and the amount of lime we wanted.

She would use her trusty mortar and pestle and begin grinding and mixing the roasted peanut. She would add other ingredients, then water it down until it looked just about right.

Finally, all the vegetables would be added along with the fried tofu and sliced boiled egg. She mixed them with a large spatula until all vegetable were covered with the dressing, then she would grab a couple of pages of old newspaper, line them with banana leaves.

The gado gado mixture would be placed inside the banana leaves, and she would add shrimp crackers and top it off with a sprinkle of fried shallots.

She put a rubber band around to hold the contents in. We always took it home before opening the neatly packed gado gado and putting it on a plate. We’d drink warm water to help to wash down the spiciness.

You could also ask for lontong or ketupat, which is Indonesian rice cakes, but I prefer to eat Gado Gado with a bowl of steamed rice.

The Peanut Dressing For Gado Gado

There are a few options to consider when preparing this spicy peanut sauce.

The traditional way is to use raw peanuts and pan fry them in little oil. My mom calls this technique “sangrai”. After frying, grind them into a paste using mortar and pestle before other ingredients are added. To be honest, I’ve never even attempted to make it this way. It’s too much of a hassle if you ask me.
A second option is to use freshly ground peanuts that are available in some of the local specialty stores such as Whole Food and Bristol Farm. Check out my other article for a peanut sauce recipe if that’s what you opt for. In a pinch you can use any jar of smooth peanut butter, preferably with no sugar or honey added.
The third option is to use the readily available gado gado dressing. I like to use the version that comes in a block. It’s available in my local Asian supermarket. The ready-made option is convenient and can be doctored up to your liking by adding bird’s eye chili and/or lime.

Veggies For Gado Gado

Some of the not-so-common vegetables used in Gado Gado are:

Kangkung also known as Kangkong, water spinach, water morning glory, Chinese spinach, swamp cabbage. It is found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions in Asia and widely used in Southeast Asian cooking. Sometimes I can find Kangkung in one of the local Asian grocery stores, but if it’s not available, no worries, even though in Indonesia, this is one of the main ingredients and one that will bring the deep green color to the dish.
Chayote also known as mirliton squash. It belongs in the gourd family. It has a pear shape in light green color with wrinkly, shiny skin. You don’t normally find them in the regular grocery stores, but they are available in most Asian grocery stores. My mom taught me how to prepare Chayote. Cut it cross-ways, hold each half on your palms, and using circular motions rub the 2 halves against each other to release the white gooey sap.

Yield: 4

Gado Gado Recipe - Indonesian Salad

Ingredients

A bunch of kangkung (if available)
2 cups of long beans cut into 2”
1 Chayote
2 cups of bean sprout
2 ears of corns
½ cabbage, cut into 2x3” rectangular
4 boiled eggs
1 package of extra firm tofu or 1 package of pre-fried tofu (available in Asian grocery store)
2 cups baby potato or 1 large potato, cut into 1” cubes

For the sauce

1 block of gado gado paste (available in Asian
grocery store) or you can use my peanut sauce recipe
1 bird’s eye chili pepper – use more or less as
needed..
To finish off

Fried Shallots

Shrimp crackers – available in Asian grocery
stores, cook per direction.

Instructions

Wash all vegetable:
Cut kangkung into ½ to 1/3, set aside
Cut long bean into 2” length
Cut Chayote width-wise, using circular motion, rub each half against each other to release the sap. Wash sap under running water, peel and slice Chayote into ½ then slice into ¼“ thick
Remove husks from corns
Cut baby potatoes length-wise, if using russet, cut into 1” cubes
Using a large steamer, bring enough water to boil and steam vegetables as followed:

Potato – 16 minutes, until tender

Corn – 5 minutes, set aside, once cool down, using a knife, scrape the kernels off into a bowl

Long bean – 3 minutes

Chayote – 5 minutes

Beansprouts – 1 minute

Cabbage – 2 minutes

To prepare tofu, drain and cut into 1” cubes. Wipe until dry with paper towel. Heat vegetable oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Fry tofu for about 12-15 minutes until lightly brown on the outside. Remove from heat and set aside.

To prepare boiled eggs, in a small pot, heat water on medium high. Put eggs. Once boiled, turned off heat and cover pot with lid for 5 minutes. Remove eggs and set aside. Once cool down, peel the shells and half the eggs.

Prepare sauce per instruction. Add chopped up chili pepper and squeeze juice from ½ of lime.

To assemble, divide each vegetable into 4 bowls. Add boiled eggs. Put a couple of spoonfuls of peanut sauce, sprinkle fried shallots and serve with shrimp crackers.

Serve cold, at room temperature or warm and enjoy

Conclusion

Gado gado is a great option if you’d like to try an authentic Indonesian dish that is both healthy and filling. The preparation is simple and some of the steps can be made ahead of time. Even better, the finished product is also good following day.

In addition, you can deviate on the recipe. For example, instead of boiling the potato, you can roast or microwave them.

If you don’t have a steamer, feel free to blanche or nook them in the microwave. Just be sure not to overcook or you’ll end up with soggy vegetable.

As far as the veggies go, the sky is the limit, be creative and put anything you’d like that’s available in your local supermarket. Add broccoli if no kangkung is available.

Cucumber will be a great addition as well if you can’t find chayote.

So, let’s make us some spicy gado gado. It’s a perfect dish for a hot summer day or night!