Rujak: The Spiced Fruit Salad Family

Ingredients

• 1 (medium) green mango, peeled, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 (medium) unripe pineapple, peeled, cored, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 200 g jicama (bengkuang), peeled, cut into batons
• 150 g cucumber, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 100 g starfruit (belimbing), sliced
• For the spiced dressing
• 100 g palm sugar (gula jawa), shaved or grated
• 3 red bird's eye chillies, finely pounded
• 1 tsp shrimp paste (terasi), toasted
• 2 tbsp tamarind water, made from tamarind pulp
• 1 tsp salt
• 50 g roasted peanuts, roughly crushed

Method

1. 1
   Toast the terasi directly over a low flame or in a dry pan until it darkens slightly and its sharp, raw ammonia edge gives way to a deep, rounded savouriness. Set aside.
2. 2
   In a mortar, pound the chillies and salt to a coarse paste. Add the toasted terasi and continue pounding until fully incorporated. Work in the palm sugar until the paste is cohesive and the sugar has dissolved into the other elements. This is where the dish lives or dies: the dressing must hold all four registers — sweet from the palm sugar, hot from the chilli, sour from the tamarind, savoury from the terasi — in perceptible balance; taste the paste at this stage and adjust before any fruit touches it.
3. 3
   Stir in the tamarind water. The dressing should loosen to a thick, pourable consistency that coats the back of a spoon; it should not pool freely.
4. 4
   Combine all prepared fruit in a wide bowl. Pour the dressing over and turn the fruit gently until every piece is coated. The fruit should glisten uniformly with no dry patches remaining.
5. 5
   Scatter the crushed roasted peanuts over the dressed fruit immediately before serving. The peanuts should still carry a dry crunch against the yielding, dressed fruit.