A local natural foods store offered a casserole labeled “Chicken Gado-Gado” in their hot bar, which tasted delicious. I copied down the ingredients, intending to re-create it at home.

Out of interest, I looked up gado-gado recipes online, and learned that it’s an Indonesian salad with spicy peanut sauce. Hmmm. Not exactly what was being served.

There are also many variations in the ingredient lists of the recipes I looked up, both for sauces and for veggies for the salad. So I decided to create my own recipe with the ingredients I’d copied down, even though I did not put it together in the manner that the other recipes suggested. They all call for making a separate peanut sauce; I just blended everything together in the cooking pot.

While it might not properly be called a gado-gado, the result is still quite yummy, in my opinion. Note: you can easily double or triple the recipe to serve more people.

Chicken & Veggies with Spicy Peanut Sauce

1 whole chicken leg
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
¼ tsp. dry chili flakes
1/3–½ cup peanut butter
10-12 small button mushrooms
2 Tbsp. Tamari or soy sauce
1 stalk broccoli, cut into small pieces
2 carrots, scrubbed and sliced
½ small head of red cabbage, rinsed and sliced
¼ to ½ cup coconut milk


1) In a skillet, sauté garlic and ginger in oil over low heat, for about 5-8 minutes, being careful not to brown the garlic.

2) Raise the heat to medium, then add the chicken leg and brown on both sides. Cover the pan, reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken to a plate to cool.

3) Add carrots and cabbage to the pan, along with a bit of water to prevent sticking, then cover the pan and simmer until almost tender. Add the broccoli, cover and steam until barely tender.

4) While veggies are cooking, cut the meat off the chicken leg, discarding the skin, then cut the meat into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

5) Stir the Tamari, chili flakes and peanut butter into the skillet, thinning with coconut milk as desired. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Add the sesame oil, stir, then turn off the heat and stir in the chicken pieces.

Serve hot with cooked grains or pasta and a side of greens, if desired.

Serves 3-4