Rojak

The other day, I was at my lupus support group meeting and got to try something uniquely Singaporean.  I'm the only foreigner in the group so often times, my friends like to introduce me to new things (mainly foods).  One day, we were talking about Singaporean dishes and my friends asked me if I'd ever had rojak.  I hadn't and asked what it was.  The description I got was a bit vague.  They called it Chinese salad where you put rojak sauce on veggies, fruits, and other things.  So, the next meeting, one of the ladies brought in all the ingredients to make rojak.

The rojak spread.

So here is what goes into rojak:

You start by chopping up some cucumbers, guava, jumbu, mangoes, pineapple - basically whatever you've got on hand.  Then, you add in some.....Natural Jellyfish!  Surprisingly, the jellyfish is actually pretty tasty, although a little strange when mixed with pineapples and other fruits.  

Here is a look at my first try of rojak.  I had at it the group, but afterwards there were leftovers that I brought home to let Andy have a try.  See that black thing in the middle of my bowl?  That would be a lovely slice of century egg - another item that you can add to your rojak.

So once you have the "salad" together, you add the rojak sauce.  It's a thick syrupy sauce that at first glance looks like chocolate sauce...but don't be deceived. 

If you are wondering what this sauce is made of, here you go:

It's basically a shrimp paste with honey and chili mixed in.  Hmmmmm........ Yep.  That's what I thought at first.  But, once I tried it, it wasn't quite as bad as it sounded and smelled.  Not sure that it's my preferred salad dressing, but at least I can say I tried it.  I took it home and let Andy have a try, he wasn't too thrilled with it.  Definitely one of the stranger things I've tried since moving here!