Gado Gado

As promised, here's my Gado Gado recipe.  I hope you'll enjoy it.

 GADO GADO

This classic salad of blanched vegetables dressed with a spicy peanut sauce is considered one of the national dishes of Indonesia.  Cucumber, bean sprouts, cabbage and green beans are traditional, but the variety of vegetables may differ.  Try using boiled and sliced potatoes, blanched broccoli florets, blanched spinach, or sliced jicama.  This salad should be served at room temperature with the vegetables tender-crisp.   I like to serve Gado Gado with a basket of crisp, deep fried krupuk (Indonesian shrimp crackers).

Serves 4 or 6 as part of a multicourse meal

1 medium cucumber, cut in half lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced
4 cups bean sprouts, parboiled for 20 seconds, rinsed in cold water and drained well
3 cups shredded green cabbage, parboiled for 1 minute, rinsed in cold water and drained well
 1/2 pound green beans, ends snapped and broken into 2" long pieces.  Parboiled for 5 minutes, rinsed in cold water and drained well
1 medium carrot, julienned, parboiled for 1 minute, rinsed in cold water and drained well
2 hard boiled eggs, shelled and cut into wedges
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fried shallots

Peanut Sauce for Gado Gado
Yield: about 2 cups

This sauce, known as Sambal Kacang (pronounced Ka-chang), is equally delicious as a lukewarm dip for a crudite platter or sauce for chicken and beef satays.

3/4 cup peanut butter, smooth or chunky
1/4 cup lime juice
2 - 3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce ( Ketjap Manis) or regular soy sauce.  If using regular soy sauce use the larger amount of sugar.
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tablespoon chili-garlic sauce, or more to taste
1 cup coconut milk

Combine all the ingredients together in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.  Stir constantly with a spoon or wire whisk.  When smooth, add 1/4 cup water and continue stirring until the mixture comes to a boil  Turn down heat and allow to simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent sticking and burning.  Remove pan from heat.  The sauce will thicken as it cools.  Serve lukewarm.  If the sauce becomes too thick, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.

Assembling the Gado Gado:

Ring a large platter with the cucumber slices, then spread the bean sprouts, cabbage and green beans in layers in the center.  Pour 1 cup of warm peanut sauce over the vegetables and arrange carrots and egg wedges on top, then garnish with the fried shallots.  Place any extra peanut sauce in a small bowl on the table so people may add extra sauce as desired.  Serve with deep fried krupuk crackers, if desired.

Gado Gado for 2 in a Delft, Netherlands Indonesian restaurant

KRUPUK

The brand of krupuk I buy is Komodo brand from Indonesia.  As far as I know, it is available in two sizes -- a small chip that puffs to about 2" in diameter and a larger size that reaches about 6" when fried.  Krupuk Udang refers to the shrimp or prawn flavor of these chips.  Krupuk come in other flavors too including vegetable.  You can get them at Amazon and other Asian online or brick and Mortar markets.

Another brand from China is Pigeon Brand and is called Prawn Crackers or Shrimp Chips.  I used to use the Chinese ones, but after I discovered the Indonesian brand I switched because the ones from Indonesia have far more flavor and better texture.

The Krupuk come dry and have to be deep fried for the best results.  Krupuk Udang is made from ground shrimp, starch and salt.  Some people microwave the chips to avoid deep frying, but I've found this method to be far from acceptable.  The chips end up tough and rubbery and the edges are often uncooked.  The best way is to fry them.  Here's how -

Pour cooking oil in a wok or stir-fry pan to at least 1-inch deep.  I use canola oil.  Heat the oil to about 350 F or until a dry krupuk slipped into the oil sizzles and puffs up.

Fry only 2 or 3 at a time, if using the large variety, as they will expand to almost four times size.  Stir the krupuk as they begin to sizzle at the bottom of the pan.  In a few seconds, they will puff up and rise to the surface.  Stir and push them down a couple of times to ensure even cooking.  Don't let them float in the hot oil too long or they will scorch.

When the krupuk no longer puff up, remove them immediately with tongs or a Chinese wire skimmer ( also known as Spider) and put them in a clean brown paper bag to drain.  Give the bag a few shakes to help drain all the excess oil.  Transfer the fried krupuk to a basket or bowl,   They are best eaten right away as they are apt to absorb humidity in the air and soften.  If its humid, or you plan to eat them later, drain and cool the krupuk completely and place in a tightly sealed plastic bag.  The krupuk are best eaten the same day they were fried.

Pigeon Brand from China

Komodo brand from Indonesia.  These are the large chips.

Krupuk fried and ready to eat

De Rijsttafel in Holland

My husband, Keith, and I returned recently from a vacation in the Benelux countries -- that's Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.  We had a wonderful time and the weather, notorious in the Netherlands for being wet, was beautiful and sunny every day.  Not good for plants or farmers, but great for tourists.

Our dear and longtime family friends are Dutch and told me that I had to have the Indonesian meal called rijsttafel, or "rice table."  I was familiar with this Dutch inspired Indonesian meal that features many small dishes.  At the center of this multi-dish feast is freshly steamed rice and deep fried shrimp flavored chips called krupuk.  I had rijsttafel before in the Boston area and, of course, at our Dutch friend's home.  Interestingly enough, there are very few, if any, Indonesian restaurants in Greater Boston an area that encompasses over 4,000 square miles and about 4.4 million people.  We are becoming quite a foodie destination here in Boston, but there's barely an Indonesian restaurant and no rijsttafel.

The first rijsttafel dinner we enjoyed was in Amsterdam with my 7th grade French teacher who flew in from Lausanne, Switzerland to meet us and her friend, a native of Amsterdam.  As we were planning our meeting via email I asked if we could have rijsttafel together.  I'm so glad I did because we ended up at a marvelous little restaurant - 3 generations old, and in a part of Amsterdam we would never have found ourselves.  The meal was absolutely wonderful!     14 various dishes encompassing meats, seafood, vegetables, pickles, chutneys, rice and krupuk ( one of my favorite).  I took some photos, but what's missing is that incredible spicy aroma and rich flavor that permeated every dish.  I loved the different textures, temperatures, spiciness and tastes.  Yum!

If you ever find yourself in Amsterdam and want to experience rijsttafel here's the restaurant.  I highly recommend it, but be sure to make reservations.  The place was packed when we were there.

Tempo Doeloe
Utrechsestraat 75, 1017 VJ Amsterdam
Tel: 020-625 67 18

We enjoyed the meal so much that while we were in Delft ( to be in the hometown of the painter Johannes Vermeer), we had another rijsttafel dinner.  This time it was just the two of us, but the meal was as delicious as the one we had in Amsterdam.  Our delightful waitress was from Canada and she was studying and working her way to a graduate degree and hoped to remain in Holland afterwards to work.

One popular dish that appeared in both rijsttafel dinners was Gado Gado.    It's really easy to make and perfect warm weather food.  You must also try and find krupuk because once you taste it you can't just eat one chip.  They are addictive!  A must at a rijsttafel, but they al make excellent hors d'oeuvres.

I'll give you a recipe for Gado Gado and tell you how to fry krupuk tomorrow!  Until then, you'll just have to dream about the food.....

(Clockwise starting at left) Noodles, pork, sauteed greens, marinated beef, salad.

Medley of Dishes and Sides at a Rijsstafel

4 sides, including Indonesian fried rice, krupuk and Dutch beer.

Table with 14 different dishes!

Gado Gado - Blanched vegetables with a peanut butter sauce

Curried Eggs and Toasted Coconut  Shreds with Peanuts

Rice, Lemon Grass Chicken and Pickled Vegetables

Beef with Star Anise

Sauteed Green Beans

Krupuk

Me...starting to chow down on satay!

I Remember Mama

Whenever lily of the valley come into bloom I think of my mother.  These delicate and beautifully fragrant flowers were one of my mother's favorite.  They are easy to grow and spread so fast they can become a nuisance, however when we were growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, we couldn't get them to grow at all.  They would get started and then die off.  It was always a precious and rare commodity to get lily of the valley to give to mother for Mother's Day.

This year, the lily of the valley in my yard bloomed late, but very profusely.  I have them growing in various corners of our 2 acre yard.  So much so that my husband has warned that they are crowding out other plants.  For me, I can never have enough.

So in honor and remembrance of my dear mother, I have a big bouquet of lily of the valley at my kitchen counter.  The perfume of those flowers are heady indeed and each time a whiff of that fragrance meets my nose, I remember mama.