Here is another mango salad recipe.  A Malaysian Nyonya version.  The key flavoring here is belachan.  Now, the following paragraph may scare you away from this recipe, but do trust me, once the belachan is roasted and mixed into the sambal, the salad is just absolutely scrumptious!  Ask any Malaysian, and they will surely defend the belachan.

Belachan is to Malaysian cooking what fish sauce is to Thai cooking.  To get the full, sweet flavor of belachan, buy a block of it, slice it up and dry toast it in a skillet.  Just be aware that your neighbors may not be liking it too much!  When I lived in Guangzhou about 20 years ago, I toasted some belachan and thought I was smart to leave the windows opened….after all, I was in US consulate housing and I don’t think my neighbors really dig the smell!  Before I knew it, every fly in Guangzhou decided to join me in the cooking!  After a humourous battle tracking down the flies and shooing them away, I was able to get all but one fly out of the apt.  To get the last fly out, I placed my bottle of now sweetly toasted belachan by the window sill.  The lone fly decided to come out of hiding and follow the waft of the belachan by the window sill.  At that point, I turned on the fan, and off he went out of the window!

Chef’s tip: You can also roast the belachan in an oven.  400F.  Chop up the belachan, spread it on a baking sheet and roast about 7 minutes.  Using a wooden spoon, break up the pieces further till crumbs form.  Return to oven for another 5 minutes.  Store leftover roasted belachan in an airtight bottle for future use!

Sambal Belachan:
6 Fresno/ red jalapeno chilies
1 Tablespoon belachan, more if desired

Dressing:
2 Tablespoon prepared sambal belachan
3 Tablespoon lime juice
2 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 Tablespoon dried shrimp, soaked
2 Tablespoon dessicated shredded coconut, toasted
2 green mangoes, peeled and shredded
2 shallots, finely sliced
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely chiffonaded

1. In a food processor, finely grind the red chilies into a paste. Mix with belachan.
2. Make kerabu dressing – mix together sambal belachan, lime juice, sugar and salt.  Set aside.
3. Soak dried shrimp in water until soft.  Drain and pound coarsely with a mortar and pestle or pulse with a food processor.  Set aside.
4. Toast desiccated coconut in a pan till golden brown.  Pound coconut lightly.  Set aside.
5. Shred mangoes, cut shallots into thin slices lengthwise.  Slice kaffir lime leaves finely.
6. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients with the dressing. Serve immediately.

Note: Mangoes must be green, unriped firm mangoes

Serves: 6

This simple, Vietnamese-influenced shrimp salad encompasses the full flavors of hot, sweet, sour and salty.   The dressing is really versatile and you can vary the choice of fruit, too – for example, use pomelo, green papaya, even Granny Smith apples, peaches or cantaloupe.

Chef’s tip:  To peel soft, ripe fruits like mangoes or peaches, use a serrated peeler.  Kent mangoes work well for this salad.  To seed it, peel the mango.  Then cut off about 1/2 inch off the bottom and it will reveal part of the oval, flat shaped seed.  Noting the flat side of the seed from the cut tip,  stand the mango on the cut tip, then cut along the flat side of the seed from the top down, applying a slight pressure towards the seed.  Repeat with the opposite side.  Then carefully slice off both vertical side edges along the seed.  To chiffonade herbs, stack several leaves, then roll them tightly into a little cigar.  Next, slice through the roll to create thin slices.  Fluff the sliced herbs to break up the strands.

Dressing
3 small Thai red chilies, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large shallot, finely chopped
¼ cup olive oil (not extra virgin)
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm sugar/ brown sugar
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
½ teaspoon finely chopped kaffir lime leaves, optional

Salad
1 lb medium sized shrimp, shelled, deveined
2 ripe, firm mangoes, peeled, cut into thick juliennes
1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 cup coarsely chopped basil leaves
1/2 cup mint, chiffonade

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

Preparing the Dressing and topping:
1.  Place the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined.
Preparing the shrimp
2.  In a pot of salted boiling water, drop in the cleaned shrimp.  when shrimp turns pink, remove and immediately plunge into an ice bath.   Drain and pat dry.
Preparing the salad
3. Peel mangoes, and remove pit and slice flesh into thick juliennes.  Toss mangoes herbs and half the dressing.  Set aside.
4. Toss the shrimp with remaining dressing.  And place on top of the mangoes.
5. Garnish with pine nuts and cilantro leaves.

Serves: 6

Perhaps the most popular Asian dessert.  Sticky, chewy, sweet, salty, sour.  Truly a great texture + flavor combo.  If you can find black glutinous rice, it makes for a dramatic presentation.  And it’s so simple to make.

Chef’s tip: You would ask, why is there salt in this dessert recipe?  Salt brings out the full flavor of coconut.

Rice:
2 cups sweet glutinous rice, soaked overnight
4 pieces of pandan leaves*
2 ½ cups coconut milk
¾ cup coconut milk, reserve
¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Fruit:
3 large ripe mangos
2 limes, zest only

Preparing the rice:
1.  Wash the rice and cover with water.  Set aside at least 6 hours to overnight.
2.  Prepare a large pot of boiling water with steamer.  Line steamer with cheesecloth.
3.  Drain rice.  Place rice evenly on the cheesecloth.   Place a knotted pandan leaves in the rice.
4.   Steam for about 20 minutes.  Test for doneness ie rice is tender and cooked through.
5.  In the meantime, combine sugar and salt with the coconut milk and bring to boil until sugar is dissolved.  Make sure you don’t over boil the mixture.
6.    When rice is done, quickly transfer to a serving bowl.  Pour the coconut mixture into rice mixture and stir.  Leave to stand 10-15 minutes.

Preparing the fruit:
7.   Peel the mango and cut the flesh into slices.
8.   Using a rind peeler or a peeler with a knife, make fine lime rinds strips.

Serving:
9.   To serve, place the fresh mango on top of a scoop of rice, drizzle the reserve coconut milk and garnish with lime strips.

Serves: 12

This is a Chinese Malaysian version of the Rojak, a popular Malaysian street food.  It has a sweet, sour and savory sauce with some crunch from both the juicy fruits and the added “croutons”.  Some folks use a shrimp cracker “kerupuk”, I like the crucnh and chewiness of a Chinese doughnut aka “Yow Char Kwai”.  If you can’t find either, add a handful of cornflakes.  Rojak essentially means a mixed of vegetables and fruits, although the word has evolved to mean a random mix of stuff.

Chef’s tip: To peel a whole pineapple, chop off the crown, about an inch from the base of the crown, and also an inch off the base.  Now you have a cylindrycal part of the fruit.  Letting it stand on its base, with a sharp knife, cut off the skin with top to bottom motions.  Next, lay it on its side, and made diagonal slits around both sides of a diagonal row of eyes.  Remove the eyes.  Continue till you have removed all the eyes.  Cut the fruit into two lenghtwise, then cut each half into 6 pieces lengthwise.  If you wish, nip off the center core.

Dressing:
3 Tablespoons prawn paste (hei ko)
1 Tablespoon roasted belachan
6 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons Sri Racha sauce, to taste
9 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons tamarind concentrate

Vegetables:
1 small jicama
1 English cucumber
2 Granny Smith apple
1 green mango
1 star fruit / carambola (optional)
1/2 pineapple
1 cup mung bean sprouts
2 Chinese donut (deep fried dough) or 1/2 cup cornflakes

½ cup sesame seeds, roasted
1 ½ cup unsalted roasted peanuts, crushed, reserve 2 Tablespoons

To prepare the vegetables:
1.    Roll cut jicama, cucumber, apple, mango and star fruit into irregular shapes – slice diagonally, then rotate the fruit before slicing again for an uneven shape.  Place all cut fruits and vegetables in a large salad bowl.
2.    Slice the pineapples into wedges.  Add to the salad bowl.
3.    Slice the Chinese doughnut into ½ inch slices.  Add to the salad bowl.
4.    Mung beans sprouts are left raw.  Remove roots if applicable. .  Add to the salad bowl.
To make the dressing:
5.    In a small bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients, reserving 2 Tablespoons peanuts.
Assembling the salad:
6.    Pour the dressing into the salad bowl, toss to mix.   If using cornflakes, add now.  Sprinkle with reserve peanuts.

Serves: 8