Recipe - Mixed Vegetable Salad With Peanut Sauce (Gado-Gado)

1 Package firm
(Chinesestyle) tofu
1 teaspoon Kecap manis
Oil, for deep frying
6 cup Vegetables *
Hardcooked eggs, for
garnish
Fried Onion Flakes for
garnish

GADOGADO SAUCE
1 tablespoon Minced garlic
2 tablespoon Minced shallot
1 tablespoon Minced fresh galangal or
1 teaspoon Ground galangal
1 teaspoon Dried shrimp paste
One half teaspoon Ground dried chile or
One fourth teaspoon Sambal ulek
1 cup Oil
One half cup Raw peanuts
1 teaspoon Brown or palm sugar
1 cup Thin coconut milk **
Salt, to taste
Juice of One half lime, to
taste

* (a variety of the following): cabbage, in 1inch squares; bean
sprouts; carrots, cut or sliced up or julienned; green beans, in 2inch pieces;
potatoes or sweet potatoes in large dice; cut or sliced up cucumbers;
watercress sprigs; tomato wedges.

** (The thin stuff from the bottom of a can of coconut milk. SC)

This is from a new cookbook I just got. Haven't tried this recipe
yet, but it looks dead on.

This is a rather freeform salad of lightly cooked vegetables; the
exact contents depend on what is available. What makes it gadogado
is the dressing, a creamy peanut sauce.

1. Remove tofu from package and drain. Place on a plate lined with
cloth or paper towels, top with another layer of towel and an
inverted plate, and place a weight of a pound or more on top. Let
stand for 30 minutes, unwrap, and discard liquid. Cut tofu into
bitesized squares or triangles and sprinkle with kecap manis. Fry
in 350F oil until golden brown and puffy; transfer to paper towels to
drain. Reserve oil to cook peanuts.

2. One at a time, blanch vegetables in lightly salted water, rinsing
them in cold water to stop cooking as soon as they reach the desired
degree of doneness. Cabbage and bean sprouts require only a few
seconds; carrots, green beans, and potatoes may take several minutes
depending on size and tenderness. Do not blanch cucumbers,
watercress, and tomatoes. use them raw.

3. Place GadoGado Sauce in a small bowl in the center of a large
platter. Arrange vegetables on platter around sauce. Garnish with
wedges or slices of hardcooked egg and fried onion flakes. To
serve, spoon some sauce onto each plate and dip vegetables into
sauce. Serves 4 to 6 with other dishes.

GADOGADO SAUCE:

1. To prepare sauce in a mortar: Pound garlic, shallot, galangal,
shrimp paste, and chile to a paste. To prepare sauce in a blender:
Chop together in a 1cup jar.

2. In a wok or deep skillet, heat oil over mediumhigh heat until a
peanut sizzles on contact. Fry peanuts until lightly browned;
transfer to paper towels to drain. When peanuts have cooled, grind
in a mortar or food processor to a coarse, grainy paste, adding a
little oil if necessary to facilitate blending. (May be made up to a
week ahead and stored covered in refrigerator.)

3. Remove all but 2 tablespoons oil from pan and reserve for another
use. Return pan to mediumlow heat and add pounded mixture. Cook
until quite fragrant, but do not burn. Add peanuts, sugar, and
coconut milk and bring to a boil, stirring. Simmer until thick and
season to taste with salt and lime juice. Allow to coot to room
temperature before serving.

Makes 1 cup.

From the California Culinary Academy's "Southeast Asian Cooking", Jay
Harlow, published by the Chevron Chemical Company, 1987. ISBN
0897210980.

Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; May 31 1993.

File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/cberg2.zip