Penang Rojak (MFF Penang)

One of the Penang food I think of most besides Asam Laksa is rojak. I have been a rojak lover for as long as I remember and my must have fruits are pineapples and mango. You can skip the senkuang (yam bean) or even the cucumbers and I am fine with that. And another compulsory item for me is keropok.

What makes or breaks a rojak would be the sauce. I was searching for an authentic Penang rojak sauce recipe but I guess the really good ones are secret recipes. One post on a forum I came across mentioned Hoisin sauce as an ingredient. Anyway, the recipe I used for this particular rojak comes form Betty Saw's Rasa Malaysia. I usually just eyeball my family recipe which my grandparents call Rojak Puteh.

I think most fruit rojak recipes are similar and the most important ingredient would be the prawn paste (Heh Koh). Therefore you need to use a good prawn paste and my favorite would be this one :

For the rojak ingredients, you can use any of your favorite fruits like pineapple, young mango, young papaya, green apples, jambu air, guava, starfruit and of course cucumbers, beansprouts and sengkuang.

I have tweaked the recipe a little bit and added Hoisin sauce out of curiosity. I omitted sugar from the recipe as the prawn paste is already sweetish and Hoisin sauce itself is sweet. After tasting the rojak, I was quiet happy with it. I can't say if it tastes like the original Penang rojak because the last time I had that was years ago. But whatever it is, I will use this recipe for my future rojak endeavors :)

Penang Rojak

Recipe source : Adapted from Rasa Malaysia (page 212) and various sources from the internet

Ingredients :

- Pineapples

- Young Mango

- Cucumber

- Starfruit

- Yam Bean (Sengkuang)

- Crushed roasted peanuts

- Toasted sesame seeds

Rojak Sauce :

- 1 whole tub prawn paste

- 2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce

- 1 tablespoon asam jawa paste

- 2 tablespoons sambal belacan

- 2 tablespoons dark soya sauce

- 100ml water

Note : The rojak sauce is good for 4 to 5 servings. It can be stored in the fridge for about 2 weeks because it has been boiled.

Method :

1. Cut the fruits into bite sizes and set aside.

2. Mix all the sauce ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer until sauce is slightly thick, taking care that it does not burn. Cool and set aside.

3. To prepare rojak, put all the fruits in a mixing bowl, spoon enough rojak sauce and mix.

4. Sprinkle with crushed peanuts and sesame seeds.

5. Fantastic eaten with keropok.

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest Penang Month hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies.