What, WHAT are you putting in that?

Cafe Society
1

I loooove Asian food. I spent lots of time in Indonesia growing up, and occasionally get cravings for traditional dishes. Today I made some rujak for lunch! (Also spelled rojak in Singapore/Malaysia).

It starts out as fruit salad: pineapple, mango, papaya, jambu air (water apples, a tangy/crispy/astringent Syzygium fruit which I had to leave out today, boo, never seen them in California). Then things get weirder. Cucumber. Jicama. Bean sprouts. Okay, seems fine, a little odd, maybe, but the textures and mild flavours seem to complement…

Tofu puffs. Tempeh. Hmm.

And then the best bit: the dressing. Start with lots of palm sugar and tamarind for that sweet-sour punch. Then add a ton of chili for heat. And then, the pièce de résistance, add the funk of belachan, fermented shrimp paste. Chopped peanuts on top for crunch.

You’ve GOT to try this shit. (This recipe adds kangkong, water spinach, which I left out. Rojak is pretty variable!)

What’s your favourite Asian combo?

2

Sounds pretty good. One of our favorite dishes from a (sadly defunct) local Thai place was their green papaya salad: sour green shredded papaya, tomatoes, onions, etc with peanuts, chilis and the ubiquitous stinky fish sauce.

3

Bruised long beans and salted crabs are common.

4

An Indian buffet had the most delicious apple, pepper, and tomato salad. I don’t know the name and couldn’t place all of the flavors, but it was similar to this:

http://www.themealalgorithm.com/2013/08/apple-tomato-salad.html