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Gado Gado

When I first tasted this dish my mouth exploded. Literally. This dish was so flavourful, I loved the crunch of the veggies, the softness of the potatoes, the nuttiness of the sauce. It's a traditional Indonesian dish that literally translates to "mix-mix". It's a combination of raw veggies, steamed veggies and eggs in a perfect peanut sauce. The veggies can definitely be improvised based on what you have in your fridge, but our recommendations are below in the recipe. If you're making this just for 1 or 2 people, scale down the recipe. There's definitely a lot of moving parts here: cooking eggs, tofu, green beans, chopping cabbage but it is all well worth it!
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time35 mins
Total Time55 mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Healthy, Indonesian
Servings: 4

Ingredients

Protein

  • 1 brick tofu, sliced into cubes or 12 shrimp, peeled
  • 1-3 eggs

Veggies

  • 2 cups shredded cabbage (purple, green or combo of both)
  • 1/2 cucumber sliced into 1/2 inch semi-circles
  • 5 mini potatoes halved
  • 1 small bunch green beans ends trimmed off
  • 3 radishes thinly sliced
  • 1 carrot ribboned

Sauce

  • 3/4 cup peanut butter or almond butter
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • 1 red chili (optional) finely chopped
  • 2 Tbsp tamari
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 Tbsp coconut sugar
  • 1 - 1 1/2 Tbsp lime juice
  • water to thin out, if needed

Instructions

Eggs

  • Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil, then gently lower the eggs in with a slotted spoon. Lower heat for a rolling boil and cook eggs for 6-7 minutes for a "jammy" (runnier) egg or cook 10 minutes for a hardboil. Immediately run under cold water, peel and slice in half.

Tofu or Shrimp

  • You don't have to add these in, but if you want more protein, place a saute pan over medium heat, add a splash of coconut oil or avocado oil and saute the tofu or shrimp. Season lightly with salt and pepper. There's no need to overly season these because the sauce will do that job.

Potatoes & Green Beans

  • Place the potatoes in a pot of water and boil them until you can stick a fork in and lift it up, this will be between 7-10 minutes depending on the size. You can cut them into cubes if you want it to go faster. You can throw the beans in there too, they only need 1-2 minutes, pick them up with tongs and immediately run them under cold water. Alternatively, if you have a steamer basket, place it on top of the pot and steam the green beans that way.

Sauce

  • In a small pot over medium-low heat, add in all the ingredients and stir until creamy.

Veggies

  • Prep all the raw veggies

Assembly

  • Using a big platter or on a few different plates, place the cabbage down as a base then begin piling the other ingredients on top. Spoon a generous amount of the sauce over top Use the cabbage as a base on the plate and then load all of the ingredients on top.
  • If you like, garnish with cilantro, sliced green onion and peanuts or almonds.

Notes

Substitution Guide:
  • Everything is optional!
    • the great thing about this dish is you can personalize it as much as you want, don't like eggs, omit them, want to add chicken instead, go for it!
  • Cabbage: kale
  • Cucumber: peppers or tomatoes
  • Mini potatoes: sweet potatoes, any kind of potato just cut smaller so it cooks faster
  • Green beans, radishes, carrots: ANY veg you have in your fridge and want to use (e.g. broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, bean sprouts, etc)
 
Prep Guide:
  • Since this dish has a lot of moving parts there are several ways to prep in advance
    • chopping veggies and storing in an airtight container in the fridge
    • boiling potatoes ahead of time
    • cooking shrimp or tofu ahead of time
    • making sauce up to 3 days in advance (sauce lasts in the fridge for 4 days in a sealed container/jar)