Indonesian Gado-Gado Lunch Jars: Peanut-Dressed Vegetables with Egg and Tofu

Make the peanut sauce: whisk together the peanut butter, kecap manis, lime juice, garlic, sambal and hot water until smooth and pourable. Add more water a spoonful at a time if it is too thick. Divide among four small lidded containers.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• 1 teaspoon sambal oelek or chili paste, to taste
• 1/2 cup hot water, plus more to thin
• 8 ounces firm tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons neutral oil
• 8 ounces green beans, trimmed and halved
• 2 cups shredded green cabbage
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1 small cucumber, sliced
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved
• 1 cup boiled baby potatoes, halved (optional)

Instructions

1. Make the peanut sauce: whisk together the peanut butter, kecap manis, lime juice, garlic, sambal and hot water until smooth and pourable. Add more water a spoonful at a time if it is too thick. Divide among four small lidded containers.
2. Pat the tofu dry. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and fry the tofu cubes, turning, for 6 to 8 minutes until golden on all sides. Season with a pinch of salt and cool.
3. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the green beans for 2 minutes, then add the cabbage and bean sprouts for 30 seconds more. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking; pat dry.
4. Layer four wide-mouth jars from the bottom up: potatoes if using, green beans, cabbage, bean sprouts, cucumber, tofu, and finally the egg halves on top so nothing gets crushed.
5. Seal the jars and refrigerate up to 4 days. Keep the peanut sauce separate so the vegetables stay crisp.
6. To serve, pour the peanut sauce into the jar (or tip everything onto a plate), toss well and eat at room temperature or cold.
7. Gado-gado, meaning 'mix-mix' in Indonesian, is Jakarta's answer to the salad plate: a heap of blanched and raw vegetables, tofu, egg and sometimes potatoes, all bound together by a warm spiced peanut sauce ground fresh to order by street vendors. It is deliberately built from whatever is on hand, which makes it the ideal fridge-clearing meal-prep lunch. Layered in jars with the sauce on the side, it travels to school or the office without wilting and tastes like a real meal rather than a sad desk salad.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 420 kcal
• Protein: 22g
• Fat: 27g
• Carbohydrates: 26g
• Fiber: 7g
• Sugar: 9g
• Sodium: 540mg