Gado-gado lunch box
50 min · 29 g protein · 403 cals / serving
Indonesia's much-loved salad with peanut sauce, packed for lunch: golden pan-fried tofu, a halved egg, little boiled potatoes, crisp blanched green beans, cabbage and bean sprouts, cucumber and carrot, with a pot of sweet, spicy, lime-sharp peanut sauce to pour over just before you eat.
Ingredients
Peanut sauce
- 1/2 cup powdered peanut butter
- 1 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tsp brown sugar, or palm sugar
- 1 tbsp sambal oelek
- 1 large clove garlic, finely grated
- 1/2 cup water, warm
Vegetables
- 14 oz new potatoes, small salad potatoes, halved
- 4 large eggs
- 10 oz green beans, trimmed and halved
- 1/3 small head cabbage, shredded
- 1 1/2 cups bean sprouts
Tofu
- 1 block (14 oz) firm tofu, pressed and cut into 2 cm (3/4-inch) cubes
- 1 tsp canola oil
Steps
- Whisk the powdered peanut butter, peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, sambal, garlic and warm water until smooth. It should be thick enough to coat a spoon; it thickens more in the fridge. Divide between four small pots.
- Cover the potatoes with cold salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 12–15 minutes, until a knife slides in. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and keep the water boiling. Lower in the eggs and cook for 9 minutes, then move them to cold water and peel.
- Blanch the green beans in the same water for 3 minutes, adding the bean sprouts for the last 2 minutes and the cabbage for the last 30 seconds. Drain and rinse under cold water so they stay bright and crunchy, then spread on a towel to dry.
- Pat the tofu very dry. Heat the oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat and fry the tofu for 8–10 minutes, turning, until golden on several sides. Let it cool on a paper towel.
- Pack four containers with potatoes, tofu, green beans, cabbage and sprouts, cucumber, carrot and a halved egg each, with a pot of peanut sauce on the side. Pour the sauce over at lunchtime.
Good to know
How long does it keep, and is it eaten cold?
Yes, gado-gado is served at room temperature or cold, so it is made for a lunch box. It keeps 4 days in the fridge. Keep the sauce in its own pot, and make sure the blanched vegetables are completely dry before packing, or they sweat into the tofu.
Can I use tempeh instead of tofu?
Yes, tempeh is traditional too and has a nuttier taste and firmer bite, at about 62 instead of 70. Slice it thin and fry it the same way.
My peanut sauce went solid in the fridge.
That is normal. Stir in a teaspoon of warm water, or leave the pot out of the fridge for 15 minutes before lunch, and it loosens again.
Per
- Calories
- 72
- Protein
- (28%)
- 5 g
- Fat
- (32%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (40%)
- 8 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 112 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1613 kcal goes into the pot and 2338 g of ingredients comes out as about 2240 g of food: 72 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.