Gado-Gado, Ottolenghi-Style

Here is my variant on Gado-Gado, adapted from the version in Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

To make it as written I would budget about an hour and a half, maybe more. But you can take some shortcuts if you want (it just might not be quite as yummy!)

Note: I haven't actually made the OTHER Gado-Gado on this blog since I posted it.. it was probably easier but I would say this is definitely yummier. The other one has some interesting topping ideas too though, and could be a good option if you're lacking in fancy ingredients like galangal and tamarind.

Totally worth the time to make the super satay sauce from scratch. I will write it out as I made it, which includes a small substitution as I couldn't get a hold of fresh galangal. If you can find it, the original calls for using fresh galangal in the place of the fresh ginger and dried galangal.

Ideally you will read through this whole recipe and think through your timing, as you may want to overlap preparing the salad with making the sauce in ways that make sense for the ingredients you choose.

Satay Sauce

This is the slow part and it could definitely be done ahead of time if you're organized. If you're rushed for time or want to use ingredients you're more likely to have on hand, you could always skip this part and make awesome no-cook peanut sauce instead.

Ingredients

• 4 peeled garlic cloves
• 1 roughly chopped lemongrass stalk
• 2.5 tbsp sambal oelek (makes for a sauce with some heat, but not really spicy... if I were making this for kids I would probably reduce the quantity or maybe just make them some kid-friendly peanut sauce and keep this deluxe sauce for those brave enough to eat it!)
• roughly the equivalent of a 5" long piece of fresh ginger (about 1-1.5" in diameter), peeled
• 2 slices of dried galangal, rehydrated in a small bowl of boiling water for a few minutes, cut into small bits (if you don't have dried galangal, just do a little more ginger instead)
• 4 medium shallots, peeled (this is probably the most annoying part of the recipe)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 tbsp salt
• 7 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tbsp paprika
• 2 tbsp thick tamarind water (rehydrate about 1/4 cup tamarind in about 1/2-3/4 cup of boiling water, let sit at least 10 minutes or so, stir it together and mash the tamarind with a fork, then press out the liquid through a sieve)
• 1 1/2 cups roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 1 cup coconut milk

Method

1. Use a small food processor or hand blender to crush the garlic, lemongrass, sambal oelek, ginger, galangal pieces, and shallots into a homogeneous paste.
2. Heat up the oil in a medium saucepan. Add the paste from step 1 and cook over medium-low heat for 40-50 minutes (until the oil starts to separate). Stir regularly. 
• While the paste is cooking...
• Prepare the tamarind water
• Combine the salt, sugar, and paprika in a small bowl
• Crush peanuts roughly in a food processor - leave them a bit chunky. Put the peanuts and water into a small saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 to 25 minutes or until the mixture thickens and most of the water has evaporated
3. Add the salt, sugar and paprika mixture to the pot with the paste. Also add the tamarind water. Stir and cook for 10 minutes more.
4. Add the cooked peanut mixture to the cooked spice paste then stir in the coconut milk

Spice paste is done.. keep it somewhere warm.

The Salad Part

This part is relatively quick - the time-consuming pieces are preparing tofu, roasting yams, and cooking rice... the rest is pretty speedy.

Ingredients (and some Method)

Note: you could do this part with basically whatever ingredients you want... the sauce is the key! But I will outline what I did today here. Note that in the original recipe there are potatoes instead of the rice and yams, and various other differences. 

These ingredients should be prepared first (like before or while you make the sauce) as they will take some time:

• 1 to 1 1/2 cups short grain brown rice. Cook this according to package directions or using your preferred method.
• 4 small yams, cleaned and sliced into 1/2" to 3/4" rounds (no need to peel) - toss these with some olive oil and kosher salt then roast in the oven at the same time as you roast your tofu (about 30-40 minutes, flip them over about half way through)...
• 1 block of extra firm tofu, prepared according to instructions in my post "The best way to prepare tofu" (you can roast the tofu and the yams at the same time)

These ingredients will cook quickly and the process is described below:

• 1 very small or half of a medium-large cabbage, cut into chunks (I cut a very small cabbage in half and then each half into 4 wedges, then halved the wedges to make 8 chunks per half cabbage)
• 1-2 cups bean sprouts, rinsed and drained
• 1-2 cups green beans, washed and trimmed
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
• 3 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves
• Something crunchy to sprinkle on top. I used these yam chips from Hardbite. The original recipe calls for crisp-fried shallots and cassava chips

Method (the rest of it)

1. If you haven't already, get the rice, tofu, and yams started cooking (see notes above). You should also hard boil your eggs if you haven't done that yet. See below for tips if you need them.
2. Once your sauce, rice, tofu, yams, and eggs are done ready... 
• Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil
• While the water is heating up, spread the cooked rice out in the bottom of a large casserole dish or serving platter
• When the water comes to a boil, add the cabbage and blanch it for 1 minute, then remove and drain it (I used a large slotted spoon to fish out as much as I could). Spread the cabbage out in a layer over the cooked rice
• Add the bean sprouts to the boiling water and blanch for 30 seconds, then remove and drain them. Layer these over the cabbage and rice
• Add the green beans to the boiling water and blanch for 4 minutes then drain. Layer green beans over the cabbage, rice, and bean sprouts.
• You're done the cooking part - go ahead and turn off the water pot.
3. If you need some time to finish getting other things ready, put the casserole/serving platter somewhere warm.
4. Before serving, layer the roasted tofu chunks and yam slices on top everything already added to the casserole/platter.
5. Serve the salad with the satay sauce, chopped cilantro, quartered eggs, and crispy chips on the side so everyone can add these in whatever quantity they like.

Super Simple Sauteed Zucchini

I had a bunch of cut up zucchini sitting in the fridge that needed eating.  I decided to just keep it simple and fry it up as a side dish for our picnic lunch.  Often I find myself thinking I need to make something complicated for it to be good, but I have been trying to remind myself lately that simple is good too, and often more baby-friendly.

Ready to picnic!

Ingredients

• some quantity of zucchini, cut up into whatever size and shape you like (mine were sliced and halved/quartered)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• olive oil
• splash of soya sauce
• pepper

Method

1. Heat oil in pan
2. Add garlic, fry till fragrant
3. Add zucchini - sauté just until outsides don't look raw
4. Add the splash of soya sauce (not too much) and toss to coat zucchini
5. Fry until the steam starts to die down a little and the zucchini is still firm 
6. Grind some fresh pepper over it and remove from heat

It feels so decadent and delightful to add a little cooked side dish like this to sandwiches or leftovers or whatever easy lunch you're making. And it only takes a few minutes, especially if your zucchini happens to be cut up ahead of time!

Coconut-Mint Sorbet with Chocolate Freckles

I was looking for this recipe this morning and realized that it wasn't posted here.. this one comes from the super fantastic "Batchworks Sorbet" in Roberts Creek, BC (definitely worth a visit!)

Now that I read this over again, I see there are a few steps I haven't quite followed correctly in the past - on a couple of occasions, that has led to ice cream soup disaster, but on the whole whenever I make this it is incredibly delicious and well-loved!

Ultimately the best way to avoid disaster is to make sure everything is well-chilled before you try to do the churning step.  This means that it's better to make this at home than to try to transport your ingredients and ice cream maker to someone else's house - if the ice cream maker and/or the ingredients are above a certain critical temperature at the time of churning, then it will never work!  I will type up the original recipe here, not the shortcut version that has been mostly successful for me.

I also highly recommend chilling the serving bowls because this sorbet is best when it's fresh but it will start to melt quickly while you're trying to eat it, and so it is best to stall that process as much as possible.

Ingredients

3/4 c sugar
3/4 c water
400mL can of coconut milk
1/2 bunch fresh mint, chopped
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 oz bittersweet dark chocolate

Directions

Step 0. (Optional Katie addition in case you want to take a shortcut later) - Give the can of coconut milk a good shake and put in the refrigerator to chill it. Leave it there until you need it later in this recipe.

Simple syrup mixture with mint added

1. Bring the sugar and water to boil in a medium saucepan. Boil for 2 minutes then add the fresh chopped mint. Cool completely. Chill in the fridge for 2-24 hours.
   
2. In a blender, add the coconut milk to the water/sugar/mint mixture.
3. Blend on high for 2 minutes. (optional: push through a strainer to remove chunks of mint - I've never bothered with this step). Add vanilla.
4. Chill mixture well (if you've pre-chilled your coconut milk, you can just carry on to step 5).
5. Put the mixture in an ice cream maker and churn as per directions.  Once the sorbet is churned, put in a suitable somewhat shallow container (recipe calls for a "rectangular shaped tub", but I use a flat-bottomed metal bowl) and place in the freezer to get the sorbet nice and cold. This will take about 20 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, over a double boiler, melt the dark chocolate. While the chocolate is still hot, drizzle it with a spoon in a thin line over top of the sorbet. Let it harden and then mix it in. Add enough drizzles until it is nicely freckled.



Freckling in progress..

7. Place the sorbet in a cold freezer for at least 30 minutes.  Cover the top with plastic wrap to prevent ice crystals from forming. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes before serving.

mmm... time to get my mint mixture made so we can feast tonight!