3Asian red shallotsregular red onion is an option too of course
3clovesof garlic
1/2tspshrimp paste
small pcs of sereh / lemon grass
2big red chili peppersincluding seeds
sunflower oil to bake in
1/2tspcumin
1tspground cilantro
400mlwaterapprox.
5large tbsp peanutbutter with pieces
1/2tbsppalm sugar or gula djawa
1tbspketjap manis
2tspdried chili flakes
2tspsambal badjak
bit of lime juice
Instructions
Cook all vegetables for your gado separately and no too well done. It's ok if they still have a little crunch. Grate the carrot and pour boiling water over it. Leave to drain. Also blanch the bean sprouts shortly but cook the green beans a little longer. Set aside to cool.
Cut the onion and the garlic and add this together with the sereh, shrimp paste and the red peppers in a pestle and mortar. Mix until you have a coarse paste. Heat the sunflower oil in a large saucepan. Bake everything until it starts to smell really nicely but make sure it doesn't burn.
Add the cumin and the cilantro and bake this together briefly.
Pour the water in and puree with a stick blender until smooth. Add the peanutbutter, palm sugar, ketjap manis, dried chili flakes, sambal and the lime and stir everything together till it has the desired thickness. If it is too thin add more peanut butter.
Your peanut sauce is done when the oil starts to separate a bit. You can see this when you look at the pictures.
Serve the gado gado on a large plate with all vegetables arranged. Add the peanut sauce in the middle and serve with boiled eggs.
Notes
Gula djawa or palm sugar has a unique taste so you can replace it with regular sugar but it will have another flavor. It is sold in blocks or grated. Grated is a lot esier as the blocks are rock solid. We used sambal badjak here because that is what we had, but feel free to use another sambal.