This is Indonesia on a plate, and if you grew up with it you already know. If you didn't, welcome to the peanut sauce that ruins all other peanut sauces for you. Gado gado means "mix mix," which is exactly what you do: a pile of vegetables, tofu, egg, and lontong, all buried under a sauce you will want to eat with a spoon straight from the pan.
Pound or blend the peanuts, garlic, and chiles into a coarse paste. Fry it in a little oil until fragrant and darkened, then add everything else and thin with water until it coats a spoon but still flows. Taste it. It should hit salty, sweet, sour, and heat in that order. Adjust until it does.
Blanch the vegetables in salted boiling water, shock them cold so they stay bright. Arrange everything on a platter like you mean it. Sauce goes over the top, krupuk on the side.
Make double the sauce. It keeps a week in the fridge and it fixes everything: grilled chicken, cold noodles, a spoon.
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