Rujak

Indonesian rujak

In Indonesia, especially among Javanese, rujak is essential part of the traditional prenatal ceremony called "Nujuh Bulanan" (literally: seventh month). Special rujak is made for this occasion, and later being served to mother to be and her guests (mostly her female friends). It is widely known that the sweet, spicy and sour taste of rujak are adored by pregnant women. The recipe of rujak for this ceremony is similar to typical Indonesian fruit rujak, with the exception that the fruits are roughly shredded instead of thinly sliced, also jeruk bali (grapefruit) is an essential ingredient which is rarely present in typical Indonesian fruit rujak. It is believed if in overall the rujak tastes sweet then the unborn would be a girl, and if in overall the taste is spicy, the unborn baby is a boy.



Indonesian Fruit Rujak

The typical Indonesian fruit rujak consists of slices of assorted tropical fruits such as jambu air (water apple), pineapple, raw mangoes, bangkoang (jicama), cucumber, kedondong, and raw red ubi jalar (sweet potato). Sometimes Malang variants of green apple, belimbing (star fruit), and jeruk Bali (grapefruit) are added. The sweet and spicy-hot bumbu rujak (dressing) is made up of water, gula jawa (coconut sugar), asem jawa (tamarind), grinded sauted peanuts, terasi (shrimp paste), salt, cabe rawit, and red chilli. All of the fruits are sliced to bite-size, and put in the dish. The bumbu rujak or thick sweet spicy rujak dressing is poured on the fruit slices. An addition of sambal garam powder (simple mixture of salt and grinded red chilli) is put on side as the alternative for those who love a salty taste for their rujak.

Rujak Tumbuk (Rujak Bèbèk)

Another variant of Indonesian fruit rujak. The ingredients are almost the same as typical Indonesian fruit rujak, with the exception that all the ingredients, fruits and dressing are mashed together (tumbuk or bèbèk in Indonesian) in a wooden mortar. The dressing is not poured on the fruit, but already mixed together with all the ingredients. Rujak tumbuk is served in individual smaller portions on banana leaf plates called "pincuk".

Rujak Serut

Literary means "shredded rujak". Another variant of Indonesian fruit rujak. Like rujak tumbuk, the ingridients are almost the same as typical Indonesian fruit rujak, with the exceptions that the fruits is not sliced in biteable size, but shredded into rough almost paste like consistency.

Rujak Cingur

Literary "cingur" means mouth in Javanese, and indeed beside the noodle and vegetable as the main ingridients, rujak cingur also contains slices of cooked buffalo's or cow's lips. This special rujak from East Java has "meaty" taste.

Rujak Pengantin

Literary "pengantin" means bride/groom in Indonesia, this rujak also contains slices of boiled eggs, potatoes, fried tofu, pineapples, bean sprout, pickles, vegetables, roasted peanuts and has a little vinegar taste to it.

Rujak Juhi

Juhi means salted cuttlefish for Indonesian, this rujak contains fried beancurd, cuttlefish,cucumber, noodle, lettuce, cabbages, peanut sauce, vinegar, chillies, and fried garlic. It comes close with gado-gado (another Indonesian dish).

Rujak Shanghai

Named after China's most populated city, Shanghai. It's quite popular among Indonesian Chinese community in Indonesia. This variant of rujak can be found in Indonesian Chinatowns such as Glodok, Jakarta. The same as Rujak Juhi, rujak Shanghai contains seafood. Boiled and sliced gurita (octopus) and teripang (sea cucumber) is served with kangkung (some kinds of water plant commonly used as vegetable), bengkoang, and served with thick red sweet and sour sauce, mixed with pineapple juice, chilli, and granule of sauted peanuts.