By Alysha Melnyk

Gado-gado is an Indonesian salad. Traditionally, this salad is made of cooked vegetables, hard boiled eggs, fried tofu or tempeh, and rice wrapped in a banana leaf, served with a peanut sauce dressing. My version is modified, using raw vegetables for a fresh and simple preparation, baked tofu, brown rice and a simple spicy peanut sauce. I enjoy this dish because it is easy to make, uses a lot of different vegetable components you can get creative with, and is filling! Feel free to mix it up – in my opinion, the spicy peanut sauce ties everything together regardless of what individual ingredients you have on hand. Happy cooking and eating!

Makes 3-4 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 Block Extra Firm Tofu
• Olive Oil
• Soy Sauce
• Hot Sauce
• Black Pepper
• 1/4 Cup Peanut Butter (Smooth or Crunchy for Texture)
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon White Vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
• Water
• Chili Flakes
• Head of Lettuce (chopped)
• 1 to 2 Cucumbers (chopped)
• 2 to 3 Tomatoes (chopped)
• 4 to 5 Sweet Peppers (chopped)
• Optional: Rice, Noodles, Basil, Microgreens, Extra Greens of Choice, Other Vegetables, Etc.

Directions

1. First preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Next, line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
3. Press your firm tofu with a towel to help remove some water. Just a quick press all around the block – I enjoy leaving some moisture in there while it cooks (but you can also prepare it the way you like!).
4. Once I press the tofu, I cut the block into ~1 inch cubes.
5. I place those on the sheet pan, and drizzle over top a 1 to 1 to 1 ration of olive oil, soy sauce and hot sauce (in this recipe I used ~2 tablespoons of each). Feel free to use what seasonings/flavoring you enjoy !
6. Once I drizzle the sauces all over top, I lightly toss the squares to mix the sauce and coat them. I find this works better because the tofu can be delicate.
7. Bake your tofu for a total of ~20 minutes until browned (I flipped halfway at the 10 minute mark).
8. While the tofu is cooking, prepare your other Gado-gado components. Prepare rice/noodles according to packaging instructions and chop any vegetables you are using.
9. To prepare the spicy peanut sauce, I combined in a bowl 1/4 cup of peanut butter, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of white vinegar, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon hot sauce, 2 teaspoons water (might use more or less depending on desired thickness of sauce, so I recommend adding 1 teaspoon at a time), and add chili flakes to taste if desired (I used ~ 1 teaspoon).
10. Serve tofu with veggies and rice, pour peanut sauce over top and add extra black pepper and herbs (I used basil) if desired.
11. Enjoy!

Alysha Melnyk is the Founder and Content Creator of The Kitchenologist©, a food blog dedicated to healthy eating and kitchen experiments. Alysha combined her background in biology with her passion for making food delicious, eye-catching, and accessible. When she’s not cooking in the kitchen or dreaming up a recipe, Alysha works full time as an Implementation Specialist and Lead Educator at ECRI, an international medical nonprofit located in suburban Philadelphia that is dedicated to improving patient safety worldwide. Alysha finds her many career passions revolve around the power of knowledge and that equipping people with the right tools and resources will help them make better informed decisions.