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Karedok
Raw vegetable salad with peanut sauce
Karedok (Sundanese raw salad): crunchy long beans, cucumber, cabbage and sprouts in a kencur peanut sauce
Karedok is the raw cousin of gado-gado, sold from roadside stalls in Bandung and across West Java as a cooling lunch with rice, prawn-free crackers or rice cakes. Nothing is cooked: long beans, cucumber, cabbage, bean sprouts and Thai basil are cut small and coated in a thick peanut sauce pounded with kencur (aromatic ginger), garlic, chilli and palm sugar, so every bite is crisp, nutty and gently sweet-hot. Stall versions often add terasi (shrimp paste); this vegetarian version leaves it out and makes up the depth with a little extra kencur and lime. A portion gives about 10 g of protein, mostly from the peanuts, so it is a light side rather than a high-protein main; serve it with tempeh or tofu if you want more. The most common mistake is dressing it too early: the salt pulls water out of the cucumber and the sauce turns thin and watery. Chef's tip: grind the peanuts coarse rather than to a paste, so the sauce keeps a little crunch to match the vegetables.
- Total time
- 25 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the vegetables
- 5 ½ oz long beanscut into 1 cm pieces
- 1 cucumberabout 250 g, seeds scraped out, diced
- 5 ½ oz white cabbagefinely shredded
- 3 ½ oz bean sproutstails pinched off
- ½ oz Thai basil leaves
For the peanut sauce
- 4 oz raw peanutsskinned
- 1 ⅛ in kencur (aromatic ginger)peeled; or 2 cm fresh ginger and 1 cm galangal
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 bird's-eye chilliesor to taste
- 1 oz palm sugargrated
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- 1 limejuiced
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup warm water
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Toast 4 oz raw peanuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat, shaking often, until they are golden brown all over and smell nutty. Tip onto a plate to cool.
8 minStep 2: Pound 1 ⅛ in kencur (aromatic ginger), 2 cloves garlic, 2 bird's-eye chillies and 1 tsp salt in a mortar (or blitz in a small food processor) to a rough paste.
Step 3: Add the cooled peanuts and pound or pulse until coarsely ground, like rough breadcrumbs, not smooth butter.
Step 4: Work in 1 oz palm sugar, 1 tbsp tamarind paste and 1 lime, then loosen with ½ cup warm water a splash at a time until the sauce is thick but spoonable, like soft hummus. Taste: it should be sweet, sour, salty and hot in balance.
Step 5: Just before eating, put 5 ½ oz long beans, 1 cucumber, 5 ½ oz white cabbage, 3 ½ oz bean sprouts and ½ oz Thai basil leaves in a wide bowl, add the sauce and toss with your hands until every piece is coated. Serve at once, while the vegetables still snap.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 230 kcal
- Protein
- 10 g
- Carbs
- 20 g
- Fat
- 14 g
- Fibre
- 6 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does karedok take?
- About 25 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 5 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of cucumber?
- Courgette, same weight (in salads, use young ones).
- What can I use instead of white cabbage?
- Savoy or spring greens, same weight.
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