The Unforgettable Taste Of Indonesian Vegan Gado-gado (Salad)

Today, we are delighted to have Ms. Key from Indonesia show us how to make a vegan version of this colorful, tasty, healthy, and nutritious Indonesian dish. “In my hometown, my favorite food is Gado-gado. So, we will first prepare the raw peanuts. Add about one teaspoon of salt into a pan. Keep the heat low.” “Next, I will prepare the tofu and the tempeh. I want to fry them, so we need to first cut them into smaller pieces.” “Next, we will steam the vegetables. We first add water into the steamer. Then we put in the vegetables. Cabbage, then chayote, long beans, potatoes, corns and finally the bean sprouts. Then I close the steamer and turn on the fire.”

“All the vegetables that we want to steam are steamed. Now we are going to make the peanut sauce. Let's first prepare the ingredients. We need one lime, which we cut in half. Then I also use one piece of Javanese sugar or coconut sugar. Now I will slice two large red chilies. Then, there is tamarind pulp, about one tablespoon. We soak the tamarind pulp in 30 milliliters of water. Wait for the tamarind pulp to soften in the water and then filter the tamarind liquid as the tamarind pulp has seeds in them. Well, the ingredients for the peanut sauce are ready.” “We grind until the peanut sauce is smooth and all the ingredients are well blended. Well, the texture is something like this, neither too thick nor too runny. Is it salty or sweet or spicy or sour enough? Delicious, everything is just right. We scoop the peanut sauce into a bowl.”

“We are now ready to plate. We will arrange the vegetables on the platter. I first put the bean sprouts. Wow, there are so many colors. Then I put in the water spinach, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes long beans, corn, Cucumber, chayote. Don't forget to include the tofu and tempeh sources of protein. My vegan gado-gado is ready.”

“Hmm, really good. The tastes of saltiness, sourness, sweetness, spiciness, and the flavors of the vegetables are all present. Just like gado-gado, wouldn’t it be wonderful if people of various cultural, religious, and racial backgrounds live together in harmony, and humans and animals can co-exist happily? Let’s work together toward a vegan world and a world of peace!”