Singapore Rojak

“Rojak” which is Malay for “mixture”, is a salad dish of vegetables and fruits.

It seems to me that some countries have their own versions of “Rojak”. . I’ve heard of the Singapore Rojak, the Indian Rojak and the Indonesian Rujak (Notice the different spelling here?)

While being completely ignorant about the Indian Rojak, I do think there is a fair resemblance between the Singapore and the Indonesian Rujak i both grew up with.

Both of them came served with a thick, dark, sweet sauce which looks like this:

The sauce for the singapore rojak however, is more pungent. The indonesian rujak sauce is milder, sweeter, and spicier.

The three main ingredients in both rojaks are the same. Shrimp paste, palm sugar, and tamarind and sometimes chilli.

I guess you can play around with the proportions and come up with your own recipe that suit to your personal taste.

Sauces aside, we come to the “bulk” of the rojak

You can pretty much use every “dry” fruit, such as green apples, rose apples, jicama, under ripe mangoes … etc

But unlike the Indonesian rujak which use only fruits, its singapore cousin likes to add a bit of fried beancurd and youtiao in it. Nothing to complain about. It’s great!

Not forgetting the ground peanuts, which again, the Indonesian rujak lack of.

Toss your choice of fruits, fried stuff, peanuts in a bowl, with your sauce, and your rojak is ready to serve.

And dont forget your skewers !

Singapore Rojak

The bulk:

Here are the list of choices you can choose to add form

Jicama (Mangkuang)

Cucumber

Rose Apples

Green Apples

Pineapple

Tau pok

You tiao

Kangkung

Bean sprout

Dried Cuttlefish

The sauce:

1 tsp of shrimp paste (belacan)

2 tbs tamarind (mixed with a bit of water to “dissolve the flesh”, discard seed)

one block of palm sugar

Mix all ingredients for the sauce, and bring it to a boil over low heat. Keep stirring till it gets syrupy. Off heat, set aside to cool, and drizzle over the “bulk”

 

 

 

Vanilla Ricotta Fritters with Lemon Curd

At the rate i am going, I think i might soon be ineligible to call this blog CrustaBAKES. I think it’s been almost a week since i baked something.

And today, my oven still laid cold and unabandoned (please bear with me)  as i diverted my attention to the stove.

And deep fried these Vanilla Ricotta Fritters.

Balls of dough soft and fluffy, so very like their airy cousins of donuts.

Except they probably need only 1/4 the effort making donuts need.

No make that 1/8.

Using the muffin method of mixing wet to dry ingredients, these fritters are really a breeze to put together.

 The recipe states the use of baking powder for leavening to create that aerated, fluffy structure. With the acidity from the use of ricotta cheese, i think the reaction from the baking powder was tremendously boosted. Plus, it also must have made this all the more soft and moist.  And if you are worrying about the grittyness of Ricotta cheese, you can set your minds at ease as the grittyness will cook out and disappear into nothingness.

And while these subtly sweet fritters are delicious with a simple sprinkle of powdered sugar. I decided to make a dip for it.

A lemon curd.

That’s like happy sunshine in a cup, which makes everything it touches shines

Including these Vanilla Fritters!

Vanilla Ricotta Fritters

Taken from A cozy kitchen.

Lemon Curd

Taken from Martha Stewart

Fried Shallot and Rosemary Crackers

I am definitely getting ahead of myself with these.

Fried Rosemary Crackers.

Not only are these cookies savoury, but they are also fried.

And that’s something you don’t see everyday in Crustabakes, which up till now has been powered by lots of sugar, flour and happy heat from the oven.

But it’s always good to break out of the shell and try something new.

Plus it’s rewarding too!

These blistered crackers are flavoured with rosemary, fresh shallots and curry powder. 

They are really really tasty and addictive, just like the popcorn, or potato chips that you cant stop at one.

And while they are good enough to eat on their own, you can of course add your own cheese and dried fruits on it.

 

* Note: while the recipe states that a pasta roller is needed, i got by manually with a rolling pin.

Fried Shallot and Rosemary Crackers

(Taken from an Indonesian Cookbook Kue Kering untuk Idul Fitri)

200 grams All Purpose Flour

30 grams Cornflour

1/2 tsp Chicken Powder

1/2 tsp Curry Powder

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

3 cloves of shallots, ground with a pestle and mortar

1 tbs dried Rosemary

2 tbs iced water

Oil for deep frying

1. Knead all the ingredients together. ( This will create a very dry and tough dough)

2. Roll the dough with a pasta roller starting from the thickest setting (#1), till it gets to the setting #7, rolling twice per setting. ( I don’t own a pasta roller and don’t really understand the mechanism. I hand rolled the dough with my rolling pin till as thin as i can get it to.)

3. Cut the dough into pieces ( I used a round cookie cutter)

4. Deep fry in pre-heated oil till they turn golden brown