Indonesian food sits among my ‘world’s top tastiest’ from all of my tasty travels. So many flavours, so little time. (The cookbook I’ve sourced this from is similarly becoming my favourite for the international flavours exploding from its pages.)
In cooking, I often feel that
specific measurements are somewhat unnecessary. (Unlike in baking - where ratios really matter, unless you want a huge disaster. Maybe that’s why I hardly bake...)
Take this gado gado, for example. What’s the use in offering measurements for bean sprouts and cabbage if you despise cabbage and plan to add bonus bean sprouts?
My mom says I’m
“adventurous” in the kitchen. I think it’s more that I don’t want to be limited by any sort of strict parameters… I customize to my liking and for what I happen to have on hand.
I encourage you to add as much or as little as you like of the veggies here (go by the photo for a ballpark measurement). Lay out your serving bowls and think about how many people are eating…
Ps: I doubled the sauce ‘cause I ALWAYS wish I made more sauce. No exception here – it’s delish.
Ingredients
~3 large white potatoes (OR the equivalent volume in celeriac or yam or butternut squash), boiled or roasted until easily stab-able with a fork.
Napa cabbage, chopped
Eggs, soft boiled (I like 1 per person)
Radishes, quartered
Cucumber, chopped into bite-size chunks
Fresh cilantro leaves
Sauce:
3 cloves garlic, pressed
¼ cup coconut sugar (or honey or other sweetener)
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup tahini
4 pinches dried chili (or 2 fresh chilies chopped)
Juice of 2 -3 limes
2 Tbsp tamari or soy sauce
2 Tbsp mirin/rice wine vinegar
Method
1. Put all sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Prep potatoes by boiling or baking until soft. When they’re done, drizzle the spuds with a little sesame oil and crack some salt & pepper over top. Then put to the side.
3. While potatoes are baking, prep veggies, washing, chopping and putting off to the side. (I always prep more veggies than I know I’ll use – saves time later when you want leftovers.)
4. If using tofu, quickly cube and sauté it in a pan using sesame oil. Once everything else is prepped, soft boil the eggs for about 6 minutes (set a timer!).
5. Assemble your bowls – smear the sauce on the bottom and then layer everything in sections over the top. Let your eaters toss everything together and mix in the sauce on their own as they munch!
