By Robyn
With the approach of Thanksgiving, we think of feasts, families, and friendships. Not just traditional American feasts, like turkey and pumpkin pie, but all the wonderful foods our International Neighbors have brought us.
Ega Dioni Putri, from Indonesia, brought her great talents as a graphic designer to International Neighbors in her very first year in Ann Arbor by creating the Sassafras Tea Group Recipes Cookbook online. With encouragement from Marilyn Maaseidvaag she coordinated, translated, and compiled recipes from Tea Group members from a dozen different countries with beautiful results. And she did this all deep into her first pregnancy, happily announcing the birth of her son Musa Ajyadi Romas, “My salute to every mother who is brave to risk her life for her child’s birth. I experienced it last Friday morning and it was soooo amazing!”
Ega posing with her husband and their newborn son Musa
Ega now lives in Tokyo and sends her warmest wishes to all her International Neighbor friends, with blessings to Marilyn’s memory and her family. She is so happy we have included her cookbook in our tribute to Marilyn. She hopes we can visit once the pandemic is over, “We’re not brave enough yet to throw any party or events with a crowd yet.”
In the meantime, please enjoy Ega’s Gado-gado recipe.
Gado-gado
Gado- gado
Ingredients:
1 cup kale or spinach, cut and boiled
½ cup green beans, cut and boiled
1 cup soybean sprouts, soaked in boiling water for 1-2 minutes
½ of a 14oz pack of firm tofu
½ of an 8oz pack of tempeh
1 large egg, boiled
shrimp crackers (optional)
1 cup rice cake, cut (optional)
Peanut sauce:
½ cup crunchy peanut butter
2 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1-2 pcs red chili
1-2 Tbsp sweet soy sauce
Method of preparation:
Make peanut sauce first. Blend all ingredients together and add water to thin.
Prepare all vegetables as suggested. Steam or boil moderately the vegetables that should be crunchy.
Pour the peanut sauce over the vegetables and mix well before eating. Leave the sauce separately from vegetables if eating later.
Fry shrimp crackers and crush them over gado-gado.
Note:
Feel free to use your favorite vegetables. You can use carrots, potatoes, cabbage, cucumbers or whatever else is available in your kitchen. The vegetables used in this recipe are the most common ones. Protein could also be used, but gado-gado should not have meat. Gado-gado can also be served over rice cakes.
To find more recipes from the Sassafras Tea Group’s Recipe Book, click the link below:
If you would like to share your favorite seasonal recipe with IN members, email us at