“Rojak” which is Malay for “mixture”, is a salad dish of vegetables and fruits.
It seems to me that some countries have their own versions of “Rojak”. . I’ve heard of the Singapore Rojak, the Indian Rojak and the Indonesian Rujak (Notice the different spelling here?)
While being completely ignorant about the Indian Rojak, I do think there is a fair resemblance between the Singapore and the Indonesian Rujak i both grew up with.
Both of them came served with a thick, dark, sweet sauce which looks like this:
The sauce for the singapore rojak however, is more pungent. The indonesian rujak sauce is milder, sweeter, and spicier.
The three main ingredients in both rojaks are the same. Shrimp paste, palm sugar, and tamarind and sometimes chilli.
I guess you can play around with the proportions and come up with your own recipe that suit to your personal taste.
Sauces aside, we come to the “bulk” of the rojak
You can pretty much use every “dry” fruit, such as green apples, rose apples, jicama, under ripe mangoes … etc
But unlike the Indonesian rujak which use only fruits, its singapore cousin likes to add a bit of fried beancurd and youtiao in it. Nothing to complain about. It’s great!
Not forgetting the ground peanuts, which again, the Indonesian rujak lack of.
Toss your choice of fruits, fried stuff, peanuts in a bowl, with your sauce, and your rojak is ready to serve.
And dont forget your skewers !
Singapore Rojak
The bulk:
Here are the list of choices you can choose to add form
Jicama (Mangkuang)
Cucumber
Rose Apples
Green Apples
Pineapple
Tau pok
You tiao
Kangkung
Bean sprout
Dried Cuttlefish
The sauce:
1 tsp of shrimp paste (belacan)
2 tbs tamarind (mixed with a bit of water to “dissolve the flesh”, discard seed)
one block of palm sugar
Mix all ingredients for the sauce, and bring it to a boil over low heat. Keep stirring till it gets syrupy. Off heat, set aside to cool, and drizzle over the “bulk”
