Gado gado salad
A delicious, fresh Indonesian salad made with peanut sauce, and flavoured unusually with a splash of Pedro Ximénez sherry.
Ingredients
For the salad
- 2 free-range eggs
- 4–5 small salad potatoes, quartered
- 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú fine green beans
- sesame oil, for frying
- 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú firm tofu, cubed
- 1 Little Gem lettuce, chopped
- 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú cucumber, sliced into batons
- 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú fresh beansprouts
For the sauce
- 2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
- 1 tsp shrimp paste
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 3 tbsp Pedro Ximénez sherry
- ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 1 lime, juice only
- 150³¾±ô/5½´Ç³ú coconut milk
To serve
- 25g/1oz shop-bought crispy onions
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
- 10 prawn crackers, crushed
- shop-bought red chilli sambal, to serve
Method
To make the salad, bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the eggs and cook for 6–7 minutes, until soft-boiled. Carefully remove from the boiling water using a slotted spoon. Cool under cold, running water, then peel the eggs and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat another pan with boiling, salted water and cook the potatoes until tender (about 10 minutes). Drain and leave to cool.
Bring another saucepan of water to the boil and cook the beans for 2-3 minutes, or until just cooked and tender. Drain and cool in a bowl of ice cold water.
Heat the sesame oil in a frying pan and add the tofu. Fry until lightly crisp and then remove from the pan to drain on kitchen paper. Leave to cool.
To make the sauce, combine all the ingredients in a pan. Place over a low-medium heat and stir to combine, then remove from the heat.
To assemble the salad, first put the lettuce in a bowl, then the potatoes, beans, cucumber, eggs, tofu and beansprouts and serve with the sauce poured over. Garnish with crispy onions, coriander, crushed prawn crackers and a bowl of red chilli sambal.