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Susan Jung

When it comes to food, there are only three things I dislike: cheesecake (too heavy), chicken breast (too dry) and green salad (not enough substance). Even when I lived in California, I couldn't bring myself to eat salads the way many of my friends liked them - large piles of raw vegetables with the dressing on the side (they considered it to be too oily or fattening). If I eat salad, I like it with a good amount of protein and carbohydrates, a varied mix of flavours and textures and a tasty dressing. These two salad recipes are filling enough that you won't be hungry 15 minutes after eating them, but light enough to be served during the hot summer months.
Gado gado (pictured)
This recipe for Indonesian cooked vegetable salad is by food stylist Vivian Herijanto.
Cooking oil, as needed
200 grams firm bean curd
100 grams bean sprouts
100 grams string beans, strings removed and discarded, the beans cut in half
200 grams water spinach
200 grams potatoes
200 grams tomatoes, quartered
200 grams cucumber, peeled and sliced
3 large eggs, at room temperature
For the peanut sauce:
15ml cooking oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
60 grams peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
125ml water
3 green chillies, chopped
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp belacan (shrimp paste)
125ml coconut milk
1 tsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
30ml tamarind juice (made by soaking tamarind paste in hot water - stir well then strain the juice and discard the pulp)
Fine sea salt
Make the peanut sauce first. Heat the oil in a pan and saut? the onion and garlic until they are pale golden and fragrant. In another pan, combine the peanut butter and water. Bring to the boil then remove from the heat and stir in the chilli, sugar, shrimp paste, tamarind juice, soy sauce and salt to taste. Add the onion/garlic mixture then stir in the coconut milk and place over a low flame. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until thick but spoonable, then taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
Slice the bean curd into 1cm-thick pieces. Heat oil in a skillet and pan-fry the bean curd until golden brown.
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Blanch the bean sprouts for 30 seconds then remove them from the water using a shallow sieve. Drain, rinse with cold water then drain again. Put the string beans in the same pot of boiling water and cook for two minutes before removing them. Drain, rinse with cold water then drain again. Add the spinach to the boiling water and blanch for two minutes then remove from the water and drain, rinse with cold water and drain again. Squeeze the excess water from the spinach. In the same water, boil the potatoes until tender. Drain, rinse with running water and drain again. When cool enough to handle, peel them (if you like) then cut into thick slices.
For perfectly hard-boiled eggs, put them in a saucepan that is just large enough to hold them in one layer. Add enough water to cover the eggs by 2cm. Place the pan over a medium flame and bring the water to the boil. Remove the pan from the heat, cover with the lid and leave undisturbed for nine minutes. Rinse the eggs with cold water then put them back into the pan and add cold water and ice cubes (they peel more easily when cold). Peel the eggs and slice lengthwise into quarters.
Lay the spinach, string beans and bean sprouts on a dish. Add the cucumber, tomato, egg, potato and bean curd. Spoon some of the warm sauce over the ingredients and serve the remaining sauce in a bowl. Serve with fried prawn crackers, if you like.
Wilted spinach salad with seared beef fillet and crisp garlic
Kewpie is a Japanese brand of mayonnaise that comes in a squeezable bottle. You can leave it out if you like but it's delicious with beef.
1 piece beef fillet or skirt steak, about 250 grams
About 30ml soy sauce
120ml olive oil
6 large garlic cloves, peeled and cut into thin, even slices (the best tool is a Japanese garlic slicer)
1 tsp dried red chilli flakes
20ml sherry vinegar
About 140 grams baby spinach leaves
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Kewpie mayonnaise
Coat the beef with the soy sauce and leave on a rack at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Put the oil and the sliced garlic in a small pan and heat it over a low-medium flame. The garlic will start to sizzle; when it turns pale golden, remove the pan from the heat and use a slotted spoon to remove the garlic from the oil. Drain the garlic on paper towels.
Pat the beef dry with paper towels. Heat a skillet (preferably cast iron) and add a little of the oil used to cook the garlic. When the oil is hot, add the beef and cook over a high flame for a few minutes on each side (for rare). The beef shouldn't be cooked past medium-rare or it will be dry. Put the beef on a plate.
Heat the remaining garlic oil over a medium flame, add the chilli flakes and cook for about 15 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully stir in the sherry vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Cut the beef across the grain into 5mm thick slices, collecting the meat juices.
Put the spinach on two plates (if serving as a main course) or four plates (if serving as an appetiser). Drizzle with the hot oil-and-sherry vinegar dressing. Add the beef slices and pour the juices over the top. Add zig-zags of Kewpie mayonnaise, then scatter with the crisp garlic.
Styling: Corner Kitchen Cooking School
 


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Asian recipes

Light, filling salad recipes: Indonesian gado gado and wilted spinach salad with seared beef fillet and crisp garlic

Indonesian Gado gado salad. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Salads don’t have to be bland and unsatisfying. Susan Jung offers two tasty recipes that will fill you up and keep you cool


Susan Jung's recipes

Light, filling salad recipes: Indonesian gado gado and wilted spinach salad with seared beef fillet and crisp garlic

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Salads don’t have to be bland and unsatisfying. Susan Jung offers two tasty recipes that will fill you up and keep you cool

Salads don’t have to be bland and unsatisfying. Susan Jung offers two tasty recipes that will fill you up and keep you cool