2 cups of cabbage, shredded
beans (for 2 cups cut into 5cm lengths)
2 cups mung bean sprouts
1 packet hard tofu
1 small cucumber
Carrots, skin removed, thinly sliced (I use a potato peeler)
Snowball turnips, thinly sliced
Tomatoes, quartered
Eggs, hard boiled, shelled and quartered
3 tbsp coconut oil for frying
for the sauce
Small knob of ginger, peeled
1 small garlic clove
½ cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lime (or lemon) juice
1 teaspoon (packed) light brown sugar
¼ - ½ teaspoons red pepper flakes
To make the sauce, drop ginger and garlic clove into a blender with the motor running and blend until finely chopped. Add peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, and 1/3 cup water and blend, adding more water by tablespoonfuls if needed to thin, until smooth. The peanut sauce can be made 3 days ahead. Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.
For the vegetables, very lightly blanch the cabbage and bean sprouts for less than a minute in boiling water. Cut cucumber into thin slices. As mentioned, you can use any steamed vegetables, just be sure there are a lot of greens. Cut tofu into cubes and fry lightly in coconut oil until golden. To serve, mix all the vegetables together, place on a large dish, top with fried tofu, crushed peanuts and chopped egg. You can either pour over the sauce before you serve or put into a side bowl so people can serve themselves.
This is a rather free-form salad of lightly cooked or raw vegetables; the exact contents depend on what is available and how many you are feeding. What makes it gado-gado is the dressing, a creamy peanut sauce.