This warm veggie salad is an Indonesian national dish.  It uses  lovely range of textures and flavours, which can be melded by a peanut sauce. This takes about 25 minutes to make, but it is utterly amazing and freezes well in the unlikely event of there being any left over. A  blender is needed.

Peanut sauce (makes 300ml):

190g roasted  unsalted peanuts 

600 ml of cold water

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

½ tbsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Sauce paste:

2 shallots chopped

1 tbsp chives, chopped

1-2 chillies, deseeded and chopped, according to taste

1 cm cube of fresh peeled ginger, chopped

1 teasp paprika

1 tbsp tamarind water (3 teasp tamarind paste diluted in 1 tbsp water)

1 tbsp light oil

1 fresh lime leaf, chopped

1 stem of lemongrass, outer leaves removed then finely chopped.

Gada Gado salad: these are classic ingredients, but change according to what is in season

2 eggs

40g cabbage or spring greens, shredded

40g French beans, cut into 2cm lengths

3 baby potatoes, halved

40g carrots, sliced

40g cauliflower, cut into small florets

30g bean spouts, rinsed and trimmed

Garnish:

Sprigs of watercress

3-4 prawn crackers 

1 tbsp crispy fried onions (available now prepared in many supermarkets)

1/3 cucumber, thinly sliced into small moons

Chopped thai basil, coriander and mint

To make the peanut sauce:

• Blitz the peanuts in a blender until a powder. Set aside. 

• Blitz all of the paste ingredients together until smooth. Heat the tablespoon of oil and fry all of the sauce paste ingredients in a medium size saucepan for two minutes.  Add the the water and bring to a boil. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, with the pan lid  ajar.

• Stir in the ground peanuts, soy and lemon juice and check the seasoning.  Reduce stirring frequently, until its reduced to a thick dipping sauce consistency – it takes about 20 minutes. It should be thick, but quite pourable. Set aside and keep warm whilst you make the salad.

To make the Gado Gado salad:

• First,  boil the eggs for 8 minutes. Chill in water, then peel and cut into quarters. Set aside

• Then steam or boil the vegetable in salted water, starting with the potatoes for 10 -12 minutes followed by cabbage, beans, carrots and cauliflower  for 3-4 minutes. Finally steam/boil  the beansprouts for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside each vegetable once cooked – they should be cooked rather than al dente – and keep warm. Slice the potatoes

To serve: 

Put the peanut sauce in a bowl on each plate. Arrange the watercress around the edges of two plates, add piles of vegetables in  the centre of the plate.  Top with potatoes and cucumber. Finally top with the prawn crackers, herbs  and fried onions.