Rojak

enlarge image

Photo by stu_spivack/flickr

The dressing may be made more spicy by adding, to taste, ground chilies, ground peanuts, and thick black shrimp sauce called hay koh.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

1 pomelo or 2 mandarins
1 seedless cucumber
1 small half-ripe pineapple
1 half-ripe mango
2 tablespoons finely sliced chilies
1 small yam bean
1 square firm bean curd

Dressing
3 tablespoons Chinese red vinegar
or tamarind liquid
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons palm sugar or brown sugar
1 tablespoon kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1 teaspoon dried shrimp paste,
wrapped in foil and roasted under grill
4 tablespoons crushed, roasted peanuts
salt to taste

Directions

Peel and segment the citrus fruit and remove the covering membrane. Cut cucumber into halves, then into fine strips. Remove skin and 'eyes' of pineapple. Cut in quarters lengthwise and remove core, then dice the flesh. Peel mango and cut in thin strips. Peel yam bean and cut into fine strips. Slice bean curd. Put all into a bowl. Combine the ingredients for the dressing, stir well, and pour over. Cover and chill.

Recipe excerpted from Encyclopedia of Asian Food by Charmaine Solomon (Periplus Editions, 1998)