I haven't cooked a new recipe in awhile, a fault of the crazy schedule the end of the year held for us. However, this weekend I finally got to the library and picked up some fun new cookbooks. Alex has the tradition of often picking the strangest sounding thing possible from any menu (unless something has the word chiptole in it) and thus he instantly was drawn to this recipe for Gado Gado from a Moosewood cookbook. It's apparently Indonesian specialty and turned out really tasty!
It was pretty easy to make, you could totally alter it to suit whatever veggies you have in the house, and, most importantly, it was delicious. Clearly evidenced by Alex having THREE full plates. (Ah, the joys of keeping a hungry husband full. Someday I'll have leftovers again. :-) )
Gado Gado
Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special
I halved the recipe that was originally in the book for the sauce, and mixed up the veggie portion a bit to suit our tastes and what we had in stock. The original recipe also calls for 2 TBS of lime juice in the sauce, which I completely forgot!
The recipe calls for this to be served on a bed of spinach or rice, we went for quinoa. I think cous cous would also be good!
Sauce:
Canola Oil (a few tsp)
1 onion, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/2 jalepeno or other chile, finely chopped
1 TBS ginger root, peeled and grated
1 cup natural peanut butter (the stuff that JUST has peanuts!)
1.5 cups water or veggie stock (I used half and half)
1/8 cup cider vinegar
1.5 tsp soy sauce
pinch salt
1.5 tsp brown sugar
Saute up the onions and garlic in a sauce pan with a bit of oil until softened. Add in the spicy pepper and cayenne and ginger. Cook for a few more minutes.
In a bowl, combine the peanut butter with about .5 cup of stock until blended, then slowly add the rest of the liquid. Once it's smoothly combined, add to the onion mixture. Stir in the vinegar, soy sauce, salt, and brown sugar. Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring now and then for about 10-15 minutes. If your sauce gets too thick, add a bit more stock until it's the consistency you'd like.
Veggies
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled, cut in small slices
1 small red potato, cut in small slices
1/3 cup diced carrots
1 cup bite size broccoli florets
1/2 cup cauliflower, bite size pieces
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
handful snap peas
I steamed all the vegetables in one big pot over a metal steamer. First, add the potatoes, steam about 7 minutes. Add the carrots on top and steam about 3 minutes more. Then add the broccoli and cauliflower and steam another 5 minutes. Add the pepper and snap peas and steam for a final 3 minutes or so.
Serve the veggies over a plate of quinoa, then top with the peanut sauce!
Enjoy!
(It's not the prettiest dish, but it's TASTY! I promise!)
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