GEORGE TOWN, May 18 — If you come to Penang and order a plate of rojak, expect a mixture of fruits in a thick, sticky pungent sauce and a sprinkling of roasted nuts.
Only in this northern state does rojak mean the local version of a fruit salad, without the creamy dressing of course. It also does not refer to the savoury dish of deep-fried prawn fritters and bean curd served with an orangey spicy sauce that is called pasembur here.
The Penang rojak is a favourite snack that is easily prepared with a mixture of cut fruits which are then tossed together in a thick, gooey black sauce.
Now, the sauce is the one thing that differentiates a good plate of rojak from a somewhat mediocre one.
Rojak connoisseurs insist on nothing less than a thick, rich, sweet, spicy and slightly salty sauce that has finely ground and fragrant roasted nuts.
Of course, the commercialised and bottled rojak kuah (rojak sauce) is easily available in grocery stores and supermarkets.
However, these bottled rojak sauces will not please any rojak fan who is used to the homemade version where the paste is mixed by the hawker.
A typical rojak sauce is made mainly from shrimp paste (also known as heh koh in Hokkien) spiked up with sambal (ground chillies), palm sugar, a smidgen of tamarind or lime juice and some dark soy sauce or salt to taste.
As its ingredients suggest, the sauce is a combination of sweet, spicy, salty and a tiny bit of sour.
Due to the shrimp paste, be prepared for the strong pungent smell of the sauce but don’t worry, it is not in the least off-putting as the fruits somehow give the whole mixture a fresh flavour.
In a normal plate of rojak, expect to see bite-sized pieces of jicama (sengkuang), guava, pineapple and green mango which is a combo of sweet, sour and crunchy.
These bite-sized morsels are first stirred into dollops of the thick rojak sauce before being piled onto a plate and garnished generously with peanuts and in some cases, roasted sesame seeds, roasted dried shrimps and belacan powder.
The only similarity it has with the pasembur is that rojak hawkers now allow clients to pick and choose the fruits they want in their rojak.
There are also rojak stalls that include umbra (ambarella), water apples, deep fried beancurd puffs, deep fried Chinese crullers and blanched cuttlefish in the dish.
A couple of stalls in Seberang Perai take it a step further and serve the fruits and a variety of other bite-sized food on skewers. They allow customers pick what they want and dip it into pots of rojak sauce on their own.
To get a taste of this local Penang-style fruit salad, check out these stalls:
1. Rojak cucuk (chiam chiam) at Jalan Berjaya, Bukit Mertajam
GPS: 5.349927,100.470673
Time: 4pm-7pm
2. Hock Seng Rojak King, Macallum Street
GPS: 5.406224,100.331722
Time: 2pm-5pm
3. Rojak Orang Hock, Jalan Pasar and Jalan Bunga Raya junction, Bukit Mertajam
GPS: 5.362681,100.460787
Time: 12pm- 5pm
4. Medan Renong, Padang Kota Lama
GPS: 5.422721,100.340629
Time: 5pm-midnight
5. Roadside stall, Persiaran Bayan Indah
GPS: 5.328076,100.306233
Time: 6pm-10pm
6. Roadside stall, Lorong Sungai Dua
GPS: 5.348351,100.302345
Time: 2pm-6pm
7. Roadside stall, Penang Street
GPS: 5.418929,100.341236
Time: Noon-4pm
