Rujak or fruit salad which has spicy, sweet and sour spices with various kinds of fruit in it. And the seasoning itself is what makes rujak have its own characteristics in each region. In Indonesia itself and in many cities that I have passed through, there are many unique Rujak spices that I have not encountered in other cities and my own city. This is based on the large number of raw materials available in nature in the city and their discovery of the use of nature and making it a The custom then passed down from generation to generation to become a characteristic of the city.
Like for example this Aceh Rujak. When I traveled to the city of Aceh to visit my relatives. Don't forget that I will buy something that is not available in my city. One of them is this Aceh rujak. Even though there are lots of people selling Rujak Aceh in my city, the taste is much different from Rujak Aceh which is actually sold and comes directly from Aceh. This is because of the ingredients I mentioned earlier. There are several ingredients that are not available in other areas. So it definitely causes a significant difference in taste.
And I will show you the difference when I rest before traveling to the city of Banda Aceh itself. I bought this Acehnese rujak in the city of Lokhsumawe and actually I accidentally found this rujak seller, and because I was resting so I decided to buy it. Various kinds of fruit are arranged on the table. And this trader has several types of fruit that he uses. I saw there were cucumbers, Kueni mangoes, pineapples, kedondong, jicama and many other fruits. This type of fruit varies depending on the type of fruit and the season but I don't mind that
What makes this Aceh rujak special is the use of 3 ingredients that are not available in my city.
The first is Rumbia fruit
The second is Batok fruit
The third is the use of Liquid Palm Sugar. And this is not palm sugar that is pressed like in my city, but sugar that comes from tilapia water which is slightly cooked so that fermentation does not occur so it can be intoxicating and it turns out that the taste of Liquid Palm Sugar is sweeter compared to palm sugar itself.
And the way to make the rujak seasoning itself is that the trader takes small chilies according to the level of spiciness we request. After the chilies were ground, the mother mixed in the roasted peanuts, then added the shell fruit, which at first glance looked like tamarind fruit. The taste of this shell fruit is a little tart and sour, they cut the fruit open, take out the contents and use only a small amount, approximately 1 tablespoon. After that they put in the rumbia fruit which turned out to be white inside. Then don't forget that the trader adds raw stone bananas and then grinds all the ingredients again until smooth. Once all the ingredients are smooth, add the palm sugar that I said above. After the palm sugar came in, the female trader put in various types of fruit by chopping them until fine. The types of fruit used are according to our availability and requests, friends.
Once all the fruit is in, stir until evenly mixed and wrap in food paper. The fruit salad was ready and I ate it in the car to accompany my journey to the city of Banda Aceh. The taste is not too spicy, sweet, and the slightly sour taste of the mixture of fruit and Batok fruit is the perfect combination for this Acehnese rujak. If you go to Aceh you have to enjoy this rujak. You will definitely be addicted. Greetings from Maytom, Indonesia