Gado-gado (Indonesian or Betawi) is an Indonesian salad[1] of raw, slightly boiled, blanched or steamed vegetables and hard-boiled eggs, boiled potato, fried tofu and tempeh, and sliced lontong (compressed cylinder rice cake wrapped in a banana leaf),[3] served with a peanut sauce dressing.

[4][1][5] In 2018, gado-gado was promoted as one of five national dishes of Indonesia; the others are soto, sate, nasi goreng, and rendang.

Gado-gado is made up of a rich mixture of vegetables, including potatoes, longbeans, bean sprouts, spinach, chayote, bitter gourd, corn and cabbage, along with tofu, tempeh, and hard-boiled eggs.

The Javanese have their own slightly similar version of a vegetables-in-peanut-sauce dish called pecel which is more prevalent in Central and East Java.

Some eating establishments use different mixtures of peanut sauce, or add other ingredients for taste such as cashew nuts.

In Jakarta, several eating establishments boast gado-gado as their signature dish, some of which have been in business for decades and have developed faithful clientele.

[1] Gado-gado is generally freshly made, sometimes in front of the customers to suit their preferred degree of spiciness, which corresponds to the amount of chili pepper included.

Some claim that the Chinese people really enjoyed the Javanese pecel, which is an Indonesian salad, and wanted to modify the dish to better accommodate their taste.

This variation is the basic way of preparing a gado-gado dish, which is made using vegetables, bean sprouts, lontong and peanut sauce as key ingredients.

[1] The common primary ingredients of the peanut sauce are as follows: The traditional method of making gado-gado is to use the cobek (pestle) and ulekan or flat rounded stone.

The dry ingredients are ground first, then the tamarind liquids are added to achieve the desired consistency.

All the ingredients are blanched or lightly boiled, including vegetables, potatoes and bean sprouts, except for the tempeh and tofu, which are fried, and cucumber which is sliced and served fresh.

It is relatively easy to prepare and cook, which is part of the reason why gado-gado can be commonly found in Indonesian households.