Ingredients
Dressing
- 4 tbsphae ko, thick black prawn paste
- 3 tbsptamarind paste
- 3 tbsppalm sugar or gula melaka
- 1 tbspdried chilli paste, or to taste
- 2 tbspwater
- juice of half a lime
Fruit and vegetables
- half a pineapple, in chunks
- 1cucumber, in chunks
- 1green mango or jicama, in chunks
- 150 gbeansprouts, blanched
- a few water spinach stems, blanched
Fritters
- 2you tiao, fried dough sticks, cut up
- 150 gtau pok, puffed fried tofu, cut up
To finish
- 100 groasted peanuts, coarsely crushed
- a few torn ginger flower petals, bunga kantan, optional
To serve
- immediately, tossed to order
Directions
- Put the hae ko in a large bowl and work in the tamarind, palm sugar and a little water. Mash it with the back of a spoon until it is smooth and pourable, adding water a spoonful at a time. Work it patiently, since lumps of undiluted prawn paste in the finished salad are unpleasantly strong.
- Add the chilli paste and lime juice. Taste it: it should be savoury, sweet, sour and hot all at once, with the savoury dominant. Adjust with more sugar for sweetness, tamarind for sourness, chilli for heat.
- Make it more assertive than seems right, since the fruit dilutes it considerably. Now the fruit, which should be a mix of textures. Use pineapple that is ripe but still firm, and cut everything into bite-sized chunks.
- Cut them fairly large, since this is eaten with a fork or a stick rather than a spoon. Pat them dry after cutting, since surface water thins the dressing. Warm the you tiao and tau pok briefly in a dry pan or under a grill until crisp.
- Cut them up only after toasting. Crush the roasted peanuts coarsely rather than grinding them fine. Crush them fresh, since pre-ground peanuts go stale and lose their oil. Put everything in a large bowl and toss it thoroughly so every piece is coated in the black dressing.
- Toss it immediately before serving, since the salt in the dressing draws water out of the fruit within minutes. A rojak that has stood for half an hour sits in a thin brown puddle with limp fruit.
- Add the you tiao and tau pok last of all and toss briefly. Add torn ginger flower petals if you can find them, which give a distinctive floral sharpness. Serve it immediately, in a bowl, with a small fork or a stick.
Technique
- Hae ko, thick black prawn paste, is what defines Chinese rojak.
- Indonesian rujak is a related but distinct dish.
- It must be tossed at the last moment or the fruit weeps.
Substitutions
- Jicama or green apple in place of green mango.
- Any thick fermented prawn paste, sold as petis.
Variations
- Penang rojak, with a slightly different fruit mix.
- Indian rojak, a quite different dish of fritters.
- Made without the fried dough, as a fruit rojak.
Frequently asked questions
What is Rojak?
Rojak is a salad & side from Singapore: fruit and dough fritters tossed in prawn paste, tamarind, sugar and peanuts.
How long does Rojak take to make?
Rojak takes 25 min of preparation and none of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Rojak?
Yes, within limits. Jicama or green apple in place of green mango. Any thick fermented prawn paste, sold as petis.
What is the most important thing to get right in Rojak?
Cut them fairly large, since this is eaten with a fork or a stick rather than a spoon. Pat them dry after cutting, since surface water thins the dressing. Warm the you tiao and tau pok briefly in a dry pan or under a grill until crisp.
