savory sunday // gado gado (thai summer salad)
That up there? That's Gado Gado. Apparently it's a thai summer salad that was featured in this week's free magazine at Lunds (our amazing local grocer), and I figured I'd put my own spin on it to enjoy some more of this amazing summer produce. You guys? It was delicious.
First, my main ingredients were the following:• 2 carrots• Some chicken. I wanted rotisserie, but they weren't out yet when I hit the store before 8 am (trouble sleeping this week...), so the only option I had were these fried chicken fingers which I sliced up. You could substitute any meat or protein here -- the original recipe called for tofu and hard-boiled eggs.• 1 cup yellow rice. You can make this yourself by adding 1/4 tsp turmeric to the boiling rice (I doubled the rice so we'd have leftovers)• fresh lemon juice• 2-4 radishes• handful cooked green beans• broccoli• thinly sliced shallot• thinly sliced ginger (just a little -- it's mostly for garnish)• handful of cherry tomatoes• a bed of spinach for the bottom of each bowl• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts• red pepper flakes to taste• San J peanut sauce for the dressing (feel free to make your own peanut sauce! I am too lazy.)• bean sprouts• fresh basilWhew! So those were the ingredients I wanted to use, but the recipe called for totally different veggies and the photos used an entirely different set. You could throw anything in here! Peppers, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, corn -- whatever you have on hand. I just try to keep it fresh and colorful. I also added the basil and ginger to keep the asian flavors going with the peanut sauce.
And really, you just chop everything up, lay a bed of spinach on the bottom of the bowl, cover that in yellow rice, cover that in your veggies, dress the salad and then throw on your garnishes (peanuts, sprouts, a squeeze of lemon juice etc). It's super easy and super delicious!Because this recipe can vary so much, there's not a real accurate calorie count I could do here. I'm thinking with the rice, the chicken and the peanut sauce, it's probably about 500 calories (or less) but that's a huge salad right there.And for dessert, how about these coffee and beignet ice cream sandwiches? MAN OH MAN do I want to eat that!!