You might know Daniel Sudar as the executive chef of Red Lantern, the Redwood City small-plates restaurant specializing in Southeast Asian street food.

But what you might not know is that Sudar also does fashion photography, crafts silver jewelry that's been featured in San Francisco Fashion Week, designed the stylish black jackets worn by the waitstaff at his restaurant and has performed as a singer and dancer in his native Indonesia.

"I'm the type of person where I can't stop doing things. One thing always leads to another," he says.

As the middle of six children born to a silversmith father and a caterer mother who also was a musician, maybe it's not surprising that the 34-year-old Sudar possesses so many artistic talents. The only one of his siblings who went into cooking, Sudar knew he wanted to be a chef since he was 7 years old.

He learned how to cook from his mother. His family raised almost all their own food - everything from guavas to cinnamon to cloves. If chicken or goat was to be served, Sudar would help slaughter it.

One of his favorite dishes he grew up eating in Central Java is gado gado. Literally "potpourri," it is a salad of cooked and raw vegetables drizzled with a warm, creamy peanut sauce.

The year-round dish, he says, can be found everywhere in the Netherlands and Indonesia, a former Dutch colony.

The traditional salad mix includes mung bean sprouts. But Sudar favors upping the amount of other vegetables. Sudar's peanut sauce includes lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves, which he grows in pots on his tiny condo balcony overlooking San Francisco's bustling South of Market neighborhood.

Sudar left his homeland at age 18, spurred by his dream to come to the California, a place where he knew people appreciated good food. Although he had already attended culinary school in Indonesia, he enrolled in the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco to hone his skills.

He went on to cook alongside Gary Danko and Sylvain Portay at the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton, with George Morrone at One Market, and with Bruce Hill at the Waterfront, all in San Francisco. He rose to be chef de cuisine at San Francisco's Betelnut before leaving to open Red Lantern last year.

Close call in the kitchen

It was a frightening accident at Betelnut four years ago that reinforced just how much cooking meant to him. A line cook was heating a wok, when flames erupted. Sudar tried to put them out, but the oil in the pan exploded, burning the right side of his face, and missing his eye by only 1/4 inch.

He was rushed to the emergency room. "It happened on Halloween," Sudar says, now able to joke about it. "I was wrapped in bandages, and everyone said, 'Great costume!' "

It took a year for his face to heal, as well as his right hand, which also suffered burns. Through it all, he missed only two days at Betelnut.

That's emblematic of his work ethic. When Red Lantern opened, Sudar worked the first four months without a day off. Now he enjoys Sundays and Mondays off, when he can relax with his partner, Ray Voorheis, an information technology contractor, whom he married three years ago in San Francisco.

At his own wedding, Sudar cooked the food for 250 guests, made the Sichuan-peppercorn chocolate truffle favors, and also made the five-tier wedding cake he raced to complete just two hours before the ceremony began.

Nowadays, he doesn't have much time to entertain, but when he does he likes to go French, bringing out foie gras and cooking with piles of earthy morels.

For simpler gatherings, gado gado offers a taste of home. With a few quick jabs with a mortar and pestle, Sudar makes quick work of turning heady garlic, shallots, jalapenos and shrimp paste into a thick mash.

As he sautes the paste in a pan with kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass, the aroma is extraordinary. He stirs in a little water, then coconut milk, palm sugar, a dash of soy sauce and ground peanuts, which will thicken the sauce.

Tamarind time-saver

Lastly, he adds a little tamarind juice to give a subtle sweet-tart note. If you don't want make your own tamarind juice from tamarind paste, there's a shortcut. Sudar suggests using canned Sour Soup Base Mix (available in Asian markets), which contains tamarind juice.

Butter lettuce leaves, shredded cabbage, green beans, long beans, carrots, cucumber, potatoes and tomatoes are arranged on serving plates. Then, a generous amount of the thick, zesty peanut sauce is ladled in the center. It's a striking contrast in textures and temperatures.

Sudar hopes to open his own Indonesian restaurant some day. Indonesia is made up of more than 17,000 islands, each with its distinctive flavor profile. Sumatra is spicy; Java is sweet. He believes the complexity of the cuisine has yet to be fully explored in this country.

"I think the cuisine has a lot of potential here," Sudar says with a smile. "There are no famous Indonesian chefs here yet. I'd like to be the first one."

Peanut Sauce (Sambal kacang ) Makes about 2 cups 3 large cloves garlic, chopped

2 shallots, chopped

1 jalapeno chile, chopped (with seeds)

1 teaspoon shrimp paste (optional)

Kosher salt

2 tablespoons peanut oil

2 kaffir lime leaves (optional)

1 stalk of lemongrass, smashed



1 (13- or 14-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk

1 teaspoon palm sugar or brown sugar

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 cup roasted peanuts (without skins), ground into a fine powder using a blender or coffee grinder

1 tablespoon tamarind water or juice of a lemon (see Note) Instructions: Blend the garlic, shallots, jalapeno and shrimp paste with a mortar and pestle or in a blender or small food processor with a pinch or two of salt. Heat peanut oil in a wok or nonstick frying pan. Sweat the blended paste with kaffir lime leaves, and lemongrass in the oil for about 3 minutes on medium heat, reducing the heat if it starts to burn. Add 1/2 cup water, and scrape up any dry bits that have stuck to the pan. Then add coconut milk, sugar and soy. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then add the ground peanuts. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce becomes thick; this should take about 8-10 minutes. Add tamarind water or lemon juice and more salt if needed, and serve. Note: To make tamarind water, dissolve tamarind paste in an equal amount of water. An easy alternative to making your own tamarind water is to use canned Sour Soup Base Mix, which contains tamarind. You can find both products in Asian markets.