This recipe is based on one of Indonesia's most well-known dishes - gado-gado. It's a meal prepared from cooked vegetables served with a spicy peanut sauce and is delicious. Take the ingredients and cook them slowly into a hearty vegetable dish, packed with plenty of flavour. For an authentic touch, serve piles of krupuk or prawn crackers on the side.
Serves 6
Preparation time: 30 minutes.
Cooking time: low 5-6 hours, high 3-4 hours, plus extra 30 minutes
1kg waxy potatoes, washed
1 red capsicum
1 green capsicum
1 1/2 cups blanched peanuts, roasted and finely chopped
2 long green chillies, sliced, deseeded if wished
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup korma curry paste
400ml can coconut milk
1 cup water
1 tbsp grated palm sugar or brown sugar
1 tsp salt
200g green beans or small head broccoli
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 Turn the slow cooker on to low to pre-warm while gathering and preparing the ingredients. Peel the potatoes if wished and cut into large chunks. Cut the capsicums into large 3cm pieces.
2 Into the pre-warmed slow cooker, put the potatoes, capsicums, peanuts, chillies, ginger and garlic. In a jug, stir together the curry paste, coconut milk, water, sugar and salt and pour into the slow cooker. Stir to mix evenly and cover with lid. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours, or until all the vegetables are tender.
3 Top and tail beans and cut in half or cut the broccoli into florets and stir into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for an additional 30 minutes.
4 Alternatively, blanch the vegetables and add to the slow cooker; no extra cooking time needed. Stir in eggs and coriander, and season with extra salt if required.
Variations
1 Cut half a cauliflower into florets and add to the hot pot with the beans or broccoli.
2 Add two peeled and sliced carrots with the potatoes and an additional 1/2 cup water.
3 Place a handful of bean sprouts in the base of every bowl before ladling in the vegetables and sauce.
Reprinted with permission from Slow by Allyson Gofton. Published by Penguin Group (NZ). $49.99.
