Gado-gado
Indonesian salad of blanched vegetables, boiled egg, fried tofu and tempeh under a thick peanut dressing.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Rest
- None
- Total
- 1 hr
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- Mild
- Cost
- Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Gado-gado means mixed up, and that is the dish: a plate of blanched vegetables, boiled potatoes and eggs, fried tofu and tempeh, raw cucumber, all dressed heavily with a warm peanut sauce. The sauce is sweet from palm sugar, sour from tamarind, hot from chilli and dark from kecap manis. Nothing here is hard; it is a lot of small jobs done in parallel. Blanch the vegetables one type at a time in the same pot so each keeps some bite. Serve at room temperature with prawn crackers or emping, and krupuk crumbled over if you have them.
What you'll need
18 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
- Peanut sauce
- Salad
Ingredients
Peanut sauce
- Peanuts, roasted200 g
- Garlic2 clove
- Fresh chilli, red2
- Palm sugar30 ml
- Tamarind, paste22 ml
- Kecap manis30 ml
- Lime leaves, torn (optional)2
- Water300 ml
- Salt4.9 ml
Salad
- Potato, waxy, boiled and sliced400 g
- Egg, boiled 8 minutes, halved4
- Tofu, firm, cubed and fried golden250 g
- Tempeh, sliced and fried200 g
- Green beans, topped, blanched 3 minutes200 g
- Cabbage, shredded, blanched 1 minute200 g
- Bean sprouts, blanched 30 seconds150 g
- Cucumber, sliced1
- Neutral oil, for frying tofu and tempeh59 ml
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Boil the potatoes and eggs. Bring a second pot of salted water to the boil and blanch green beans, then cabbage, then bean sprouts, lifting each out with a spider into cold water.
20 min
Step 2
Fry the tofu cubes and tempeh slices in oil in a frying pan until golden on all sides. Drain on paper.
10 min
Step 3
Blitz the peanuts, garlic and chilli to a coarse meal. Tip into a saucepan with palm sugar, tamarind, kecap manis, lime leaves, water and salt.
5 min
Step 4
Simmer the sauce, stirring, until thick enough to coat a spoon but still pourable, 6 to 8 minutes. Taste. It should be sweet, sour and hot in that order.
8 min
Tip: Too thick? Add hot water a spoon at a time. It firms as it cools.
Step 5
Arrange vegetables, potato, egg, tofu and tempeh on a platter or individual plates. Pour the warm sauce over generously and serve with prawn crackers and extra sauce.
5 min
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 813 kcal
- Protein
- 38.2 g
- Carbs
- 67.9 g
- Fat
- 48.2 g
- Saturated fat
- 6.9 g
- Fibre
- 13.6 g
- Sugar
- 27.3 g
- Sodium
- 988 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- Peanuts
- Eggs
- Soy
- Wheat
- Vegetarian
- Dairy-free
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 12 November.
Substitutions
Tempeh → More tofu
Tempeh is nutty and firm; tofu alone makes a softer plate. Both are Javanese staples.
Tips
- Blanch in order from cleanest to messiest so one pot of water does the whole plate.
- Everything can be cooked in the morning and dressed at lunch. Warm the sauce before pouring.
History & culture
Lunch food, sold from carts in Jakarta where the vendor pounds the sauce to order on a wide stone and adds the vegetables you point at. It is also a home dish for using up the vegetable drawer. For many Indonesians it is the default vegetarian meal, though street versions often include shrimp paste in the sauce.
A Betawi dish from Jakarta, recorded by the early twentieth century and most likely older. Peanuts arrived with the Portuguese and Spanish; the idea of dressing boiled vegetables with a pounded sauce has relatives across Java in pecel and lotek. Gado-gado became a national dish in the independence era.
Traditional — Street versions often pound a little toasted shrimp paste into the sauce. Left out here so the plate stays vegetarian; add a teaspoon if you eat it.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Gado-gado take?
1 hr all in — 30 min prep, 30 min cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 4 plates. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Easy.
How spicy is it?
Mild.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Peanuts, Eggs, Soy, Wheat. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Vegetarian, Dairy-free.
6 more questionsFewer questions
What does it cost to cook?
Weeknight budget — about $8–16 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Saucepan, Frying pan, Blender.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at 1 tsp.
What can I use instead?
Tempeh → More tofu. Tempeh is nutty and firm; tofu alone makes a softer plate. Both are Javanese staples.
Any tips from this recipe?
Blanch in order from cleanest to messiest so one pot of water does the whole plate. Everything can be cooked in the morning and dressed at lunch. Warm the sauce before pouring.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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