Indonesian Salad with Peanut Sauce (Pecel)

This Indonesian salad with peanut sauce, or known as Pecel, is a traditional meal originated from Madiun, a city in East Java, Indonesia. It is a vegetarian dish, and you can also make it vegan by not adding egg in it, that is healthy because the sweet-spicy peanut sauce is light but flavorful. Also, this Indonesian salad is jam-packed with fiber, low in calories and fat, and lots of other nutritious benefits. To make the meal heartier, you can add rice or lontong (compressed rice cake) along with pecel.

Pecel (Indonesian salad with peanut sauce) is also a very versatile dish that you can pretty much have it anytime of the day, and you can use any kinds of vegetables that you like, or in seasons. The key ingredient is in the peanut sauce. Another reason why Pecel is a good recipe to have is that you can make ahead the peanut sauce in bigger batch – it can be stored up to 2 weeks if you store the peanut sauce in an air-tight container. So that, during your busy weekdays, you can just boil or blanch some veggies, and drizzled with the pre-made peanut sauce, and voila… your meal is ready. Very simple and practical, right?

Tool I used:

• Nonstick skillet – Easy to clean, heat-up evenly, and, the best part, it is non-stick. Great tool to have for stir-frying, making omelet, and much more.
• Nonstick pan – Great tool to have for making sauce, boiling eggs or veggies and, the best part, it is easy to clean.
• Blender – I love this blender as it is not too bulky, great for making smoothie, blend some spices, and easy to clean. Also, believe it or not, this blender can also crush ice!

Tip: Adding salt when boiling the vegetables will give an extra flavor to your salad. Also, you can use any kinds of vegetables that you like, for instance: cabbage, bokchoy, tofu, and so on. Indonesian people also will add a bit of rice to the salad to make it heartier. The thickness of the sauce can also be adjustable to your likings, add more water to make the peanut sauce thinner or vice versa.

Ingredient:

• 3 stalks long bean – cut into 1-inch length
• 1 cucumber – cut into matchstick
• 1 carrot – cut into matchstick
• ½ lb bean sprout – blanched
• 1 head lettuce – shredded
• 4 hard-boiled egg – cut into half
• Garlic cracker (optional)
• Sweet soy sauce (optional)
• Fried shallot (optional)

Peanut sauce:

• 200gr roasted peanuts
• 5 cloves garlic – peeled
• 2 medium-sized shallots – peeled and cut into half or a quarter
• 2 red Thai chili – remove the stems
• 1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon tamarind juice (or 1 teaspoon tamarind paste)
• ½ teaspoon galanga powder (or ½ inch galanga)
• ½ cup water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Direction:

Making the peanut sauce:

• Preheat the olive oil in a skillet under medium heat.
• Once heated, add garlic, shallots, chili. Cook them for about 1-2 minutes or until they are soften.
• Transfer to a blender. Then, add roasted peanut, sweet soy sauce, salt, sugar, tamarind juice, galanga and water.
• Blend everything until they are smooth. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
• Set aside.

Cooking the veggies and assembling:

• Boil 3-4 cup of water in a deep saucepan. Once boiled, add about a pinch of salt.
• Add long bean and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Set aside and repeat the same step for boiling/blanching carrot and bean sprout. Set aside.
• On a serving plate, place long bean, cucumber, carrot, bean sprout, shredded lettuce, and hard-boiled egg (and some crackers – optional).
• Then, top them with peanut sauce, drizzled with sweet soy sauce and fried shallot.
• Mix them well before eating. Note: you can also add a scoop of steamed rice before mixing them. Enjoy!