Name: Spicy Fruit in a Tamarind Dressing
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Indonesia
Ingredients: ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro or scallion greens, for garnish; 1 cup mung bean sprouts, rinsed and drained; 1 cucumber; ½ fresh pineapple; 1 to 3 jalapeño or other hot peppers, seeded and chopped (for a hotter rujak, leave the seeds in); 2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce, sweet soy sauce (ketjap manis), or regular soy sauce; 1 piece (2 inches) ripe banana; ¾ cup hot water; 3 tablespoons tamarind pulp or puree or balsamic vinegar (see Note); 3 tablespoons dry-roasted peanuts; 1 shallot, chopped; 2 cloves garlic, chopped; 1 star fruit or Asian pear; 1 small jicama or large Granny Smith apple (about 8 ounces); 1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar; 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, or more to taste; Salt; 2 tablespoons molasses

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Barbecue Bible

By Steven Raichlen

Published 1998

About

An offbeat salad, rujak, pronounced RUE-jack, is one of the national dishes of Indonesia. (Indeed, it turns up throughout Southeast Asia, especially in Singapore and Malaysia.) The pairing of crunchy vegetables and acidic fruits makes an uncommonly refreshing combination for a barbecue. As for the dressing—a sweet, hot, piquant mixture of peanuts, tamarind, and peppers—few salad dressings are more distinctively flavorful or refreshing. There’s nothing else quite like it. If tamarind