Balinese food series: Gado Gado recipe (vegetable peanut salad)

Gado Gado is a Balinese dish consisting of a blanched vegetable salad with peanut sauce. It is Sundanese in origin but, due to its popularity and widely spread consumption, being sold in street food stalls, warungs and restaurants all over the country, it was named one of the 5 national dishes in 2018, together with soto, nasi goreng, sate and rendang. This Gado Gado recipe is really simple but due to the rich taste of the peanut sauce, it is a crowd pleaser. Try it at home for your next gathering and it will win over all your guests.

The basis of the dish is vegan, lactose-free and gluten-free (if you’re careful with the brand of kecap manis), so it is an easy option for many people with dietary restrictions, but it can be easily tweaked to adapt to all tastes.

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Gado Gado recipe: ingredients (4-6 pax)

For the vegetables

2cups of cabbage, shredded

2cups of string beans cut into 5 cm-long pieces (you can substitute with long green beans)

2 cups of bean sprouts

1 packet of hard tofu

1 small cucumber

3tbsp of coconut oil for frying

peanut sauce (below)

For the peanut sauce

1 ½ cups of fried peanuts with their skins

2 candle nuts (you can substitute with macadamia nuts)

2 cloves of garlic

1 hot chili

½ a medium tomato

5 tbsp Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)

1 lime

a pinch of salt

½ cup of water

Gado Gado recipe: instructions

1. To make the sauce, first slice the chili and remove the seeds. Blend the peanuts, garlic, candle nuts, lesser galangal, chili and tomato in a Balinese lesung (mortar), or in a conventional blender, until they form a fine paste.

2. Mix the paste with the half cup of water on a low heat. Add the Kecap Manis and salt, and squeeze the lime over the mixture. Stir thoroughly until mixed through.

3. For the vegetables, begin by blanching the cabbage and bean sprouts for less than a minute in boiling water. Boil the string beans for no more than 3 minutes.
4. Cut the cucumber into thin slices.
5. Cut the tofu into cubes and fry it with about 3 tablespoons of coconut oil until it is golden.

6. To serve, mix the vegetables and tofu together, place on a large dish and pour the sauce over.

7. And that’s how you make Gado Gado! Serve at room temperature as a starter, side dish or main course.

Gado Gado recipe: variations

As I mentioned in the introduction, the basis of the dish is vegan, lactose-free and gluten-free (if you’re careful with the brand of kecap manis), so it is an easy option for many people with dietary restrictions. I don’t have any of these restrictions and still find it a delicious dish! However, if you want, you can tweak it to introduce some variation and complexity by adding some boiled eggs or potatoes, fried tempeh, crab meat or chicken to the salad, as well as terasi (shrimp paste) and tamarind juice to the pre-cooked sauce, and top it up with some fried shallots.

Closing statement

As you can see, there is not secret to this Gado Gado recipe. It is a very simple yet tasty dish that you can prepare in advance to surprise your guests or as a healthy yet energizing salad for your daily routine. Try it at home and let me know how it turns out!

I learned this Gado Gado recipe at Paon Bali Cooking Class by the hand of Mama Puspa, the sassy chef that led our class. You can read more about our experience with Paon Bali and Mama Puspa in my dedicated post.

Paon Bali Cooking Class review: our experience in a Balinese cooking class

You can book your class here, through Paon Bali’s website or phone number (+62 813-3793-9095).

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