Rujak

Rujak is sliced unripe fruit and raw vegetables tossed in a spicy, sweet-and-sour dressing built from palm sugar, tamarind and chilli. It's Indonesia's answer to a fruit salad, but the comparison undersells it — rather than aiming for pure sweetness, rujak is built to hit sharp, sour and spicy notes all at once, closer to a punchy relish than a dessert.

What it really is

Unripe or barely-ripe fruit — mango, pineapple, green apple, jicama and cucumber are all common — cuts into bite-sized pieces specifically while still firm and tart, since fully ripe, sweet fruit would throw off the dish's balance entirely. The dressing pounds together in a mortar: palm sugar, tamarind, chilli, a little shrimp paste, and salt, until it turns into a thick, dark, intensely flavoured paste that coats every piece once the fruit tosses through it.

The fruit's tartness is a requirement, not a compromise. Rujak specifically calls for fruit that isn't yet fully sweet, since the dish's whole balance depends on that underlying tartness meeting the dressing's sweetness and heat — ripe, already-sweet fruit makes the finished dish cloying rather than balanced.

How it's served

• Cold or at room temperature, dressing tossed through just before eating.
• As a snack or light starter, sold from street carts across the country.
• Sometimes with crackers on the side for scooping up extra dressing.

How to write it on the menu

• Say the fruit and vegetables used, since the mix varies by vendor and region.
• Note the shrimp paste in the dressing if that applies, since some guests avoid it.
• Flag the spice level, since rujak dressing can be genuinely hot.