Ketoprak: Jakarta's Peanut Sauce Rice Cake Salad

Ingredients

• 400 g lontong (compressed rice cake), sliced into rounds
• 200 g firm tofu, fried until golden, sliced
• 150 g bean sprouts, briefly blanched
• 100 g rice vermicelli, soaked and drained
• For the peanut sauce
• 200 g roasted peanuts, ground to a coarse paste
• 3 tbsp kecap manis
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 red chillies, finely sliced or ground
• To finish
• 60 g krupuk (prawn crackers), ready-fried
• 40 g fried shallots

Method

1. 1
   Prepare the peanut sauce. Combine the ground roasted peanuts, crushed garlic, and chilli in a bowl or mortar. Stir in the kecap manis. Thin with a little warm water, working until the sauce is smooth, pourable, and coats the back of a spoon with a glossy, even layer.
2. 2
   Arrange the lontong rounds, fried tofu slices, blanched bean sprouts, and drained rice vermicelli together on a serving plate or in individual bowls.
3. 3
   Spoon the peanut sauce generously over the assembled ingredients, ensuring every element is dressed. Taste: the sauce must be sweet, savoury, and faintly hot in equal measure — the kecap manis should not be overwhelmed by either garlic or chilli.
4. 4
   Scatter the fried shallots over the top, then lay the krupuk across the dish immediately before serving. The crackers must still be audibly crisp when broken at the table.