Indian Rojak

This unique dish which is a jumble of cut up vegetables, protein served with a spicy peanut dipping sauce is a classic southeast asian hawker food you need to try!

Rojak also known as “to mix” in Malay has its origins in Java, but can be commonly found in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Most commonly, it is usually served as a salad composed of a mixture of sliced fruit or vegetables or both served with a spicy peanut dressing. The dressing itself varies across the regions and is often described as tangy and spicy due to the sweet, hot and spicy dressing made from freshly ground chillies, peanuts and palm sugar.

Before diving into the recipe, let’s dive deep into the differences between this iconic dish that can be found across Southeast Asia.

Indonesian “Rujak”

In Indonesia, this dish is called “Rujak” and is consumed particularly by the Javanese – and in Javanese culture, this dish is used in ceremonies such as for pregnant woman. If the rujak tasted sweet, the unborn child is most likely to be a girl and if it tasted spicy, the unborn child might be a boy. How interesting!

The ingredients that go into the Indonesian version of this dish also varies by quite a bit – the typical fruit rujak consists of assorted cut up tropical fruits like water apple (jambu), pineapple, mangoes, jicama, cucumber and sweet potato. The sweet & spicy sauce is made from gula melaka (palm sugar), tamarind, peanuts, prawn paste, bird’s eye chili, and salt.

Chinese Rojak

While the Rujak in Indonesia tends to be more fruit-based, Chinese Rojak has a mix of both – it typically consists of cucumber, pineapple, jícama, beansprots, taupok (tofu puffs) and youtiao (cut up fried Chinese fritters).

The dressing also differs from its Indonesian counterpart – it has a more dark colour and sticky texture. The dressing is typically made of water, shrimp paste (belacan), sugar, chili and lime juice. Some may also add tamarind or black bean paste. It’s also usually topping with crushed peanuts.

Indian Rojak

Indian Rojak can be found in both Malaysia and Singapore. In Malaysia, the rojak usually contains fried dough fritters, tofu, boiled potatoes, prawn fritters, hard boiled eggs, bean sprouts, cuttlefish and cucumber mixed with a sweet thick, spicy peanut sauce.

In Singapore however, Indian rojak tends to be served a little differently – there’s a wide variety of ingredients displayed on the shelf that you can pick and choose – it usually consists of an assortment of potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, tofu, fritters, sometimes even dyed with different colours. Once you pick you favourite items, they are heated up or double fried in a wok, chopped up, and served with a sweet and spicy sauce on the side for dipping.

The consistency of the sauce is less thick and more runny with the addition of sago pearls, sometimes depending on the hawker.

What Do I Need for This Recipe?

We’ll be making Indian Rojak with easy, accessible ingredients!

• vegetables – potatoes, cucumbers, beansprouts are a must!
• protein – tofu, tempeh (you could also add any plant based protein here)
• fritters – we’ll be making easy sweet potato mushroom fritters from scratch!
• spicy peanut sauce – sweet potato, dried chilies, tamarind, toasted peanuts, palm sugar (or coconut sugar), soy sauce, vegan fish sauce or vegan belacan (can omit if you don’t have)
• garnish – fried shallots, green chili, crushed peanuts

This recipe is also 100% vegan and can be easily made gluten free (just swap the flour in the fritters to a gluten free one – like a gluten free blend or chickpea flour!).

I worked on this recipe together with Jake (@plantfuture). He used to work as a chef and has the most amazing and authentic Indian recipes as well as other cuisines.