My first memories of rojak was this hawker who would peddle to our neighbourhood and sound his horn to let us know he is around and we can get some rojak from him.
He will slice his fruits into a white bowl. He had shelves of fruits like green mango, pineapple, bangkwang (turnip or yam bean), cucumber. In those days, I don’t remember seeing youtiao or taupok. I think these were added later through some hawkers’ innovations.
When we were asked to raise funds by selling food in school for our school trips to nearby countries with the band, we would sell rojak because it was simple to make.
Here’s my version. I think I need a few iterations to make this better. But it works.
Singaporean Rojak
Ingredients
Dressing
- 11/2 Tbsp Tamarind sauce
- 1 tsp chili sauce
- 2 Tbsp Prawn paste Hae ko from Penang
- 2-3 Tbsp Palm Sugar
- 2-3 Tbsp Peanuts roasted and chopped
Vegetables
- 1/2 Bangkwang or Yam Bean
- 1 small cucumber
- 1 Youtiao
- 1 Taupok
- 1 slice of pineapple
- 1 Tbsp Boiled Kang kong
- 1 Tbsp Boiled Taugay Bean sprouts
Optional items
- Green Mango
- Cuttlefish
- Green apples
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients of the sauce into a paste in a salad bowl.
- Toast the youtiao and taupok.
- Slice the cucumber, yam bean, pineapple all into thin slices and put them into the bowl.
- Add the vegetables and then cut the youtiao and taupok in as well.
- Stir through and top the dish with the chopped peanuts.
