Looking to whip up a simple, tasty and nutritious salad? Here’s a recipe for an easy, old-fashioned dish made with simple ingredients. It is topped with a chilli peanut dressing that will bring back memories of “balik kampung”.
While the peanuts, eggs and tofu require a tiny bit of cooking, everything else just needs a good wash and slice.
This salad is also a fun dish to put together with your kids. It starts with a bed of lettuce arranged like flower petals, followed by a layer each of thinly sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, tofu and, finally, the eggs.
Of course, you’re not limited to the ingredients in this list: feel free to add any extras you desire!
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 large tomato, sliced
- 1 firm tofu
- 3 large eggs
- 1 Japanese cucumber, sliced
- 1 head of romaine or iceberg lettuce
Dressing
- 150g peanuts
- 1/2 cup chilli sauce
- 3 cloves garlic, grated
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Method
- Toast the peanuts for 5-7 minutes in a dry pan. You’ll know they are ready when the skin breaks up and you hear popping sounds.
- Remove from the pan and allow to cool. Once cooled, remove the skin and set aside.
- Heat 1/2 cup of oil in a pan. Add the tofu and fry until golden brown. Remove from the pan and place on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Thinly slice the tofu and set aside.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and gently add the eggs. Boil for 8-12 minutes, depending on how firm you prefer the yolks to be.
- Remove the eggs from the hot water and dip into an ice bath to cool and stop the cooking process. Remove the shells, slice the eggs and set aside.
- Wash all the vegetables. Separate all the lettuce leaves and slice the tomatoes and cucumbers to about 0.5cm in thickness.
- Arrange everything on a serving plate. The lettuce goes on first to form a bed that holds the other components. Follow with the sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, sliced tofu and eggs.
- Now to make the sauce: roughly blend or chop the skinless peanuts and place them into a bowl.
- Add the chilli, garlic, 1/4 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix well.
- And that’s it! Serve the salad with the dressing mixed in or on the side.
This article first appeared in butterkicap.com, a food and culture platform and community that enables anyone to experience Malaysia through stories of her people, food and places.