Ulang-Ulang (Ambon)
Ulang-Ulang
This is again a fantastic salad from Beb Vuyk’s Groot Indonesisch Kookboek. This ulang-ulang is a delicious crispy and slightly spicy Indonesian salad. I use seeds instead of almonds because my husband has a nut allergy.
If you leave the trassi out, this dish is also vegan!
This ulang-ulang is ready in 20-30 minutes and enough for 4 people.
Ulang-Ulang (Ambon) #447 translated from Beb Vuyk’s Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, page 360.
Ingrediënts
- 1 medium eggplant (aubergine)
- 1/2 cucumber
- 100 grams of bean sprouts
- 100 grams of cabbage
- 100 grams of kenari, to be replaced by almonds
- 2 tablespoons of vinegar
Herbs
- 2 tablespoons of chopped onions
- 2 chopped up cloves of garlic
- 2 teaspoons of sambal terasi (chili salsa with shrimp paste)
- 1 teaspoon of Javanese sugar
- salt
- Clean the vegetables.
- Peel the cucumber and eggplant.
- Cut both and the cabbage into small pieces.
- Rub onions, garlic, sambal, sugar and salt together with the peeled almonds and dilute this paste with the vinegar and if necessary with another tablespoon of water.
- Mix the raw vegetables with it.
Beb does not say which cabbage she uses, that means everything is possible. I love cabbage, especially raw. I use Chinese cabbage this time. It is tender and can be eaten as a firm lettuce. But a crispy white or curly savoy cabbage is also great in this salad; always cut finely.
Beb says ‘medium eggplant’. Mine is pretty big, so I use half of it.
Nut allergy
My husband is allergic to nuts and almonds. Beb uses kenari nuts (a softer and sweeter type of almond). I replace this with my homemade muesli mix of only seeds. We normally eat this with yogurt, but now I roast them for a while so the seeds get a nutty flavor.
In my pan I have pumpkin seeds, oatmeal and a few sunflower seeds.
Bumbu (spice paste)
I place the roasted seeds in a jug together with the onions, garlic, sambal, sugar and salt and blend it with my emersion blender.
My sambal trassi (terasi) is finised, so I add 1/3 of a chili pepper with half a teaspoon of trassi (fermented shrimp paste) to the bumbu.
I add the vinegar and another tablespoon of water during mixing.
It quickly turns into a beautiful pasta. This is the dressing of the salad.
I chopped my cabbage, cucumber and eggplant (aubergine) and mixed it with the bean sprouts.
Now simply mix the ‘sauce’ with the rest and there you have it: ulang-ulang salad. We eat this lovely salad with crispy fried tofu or next to a tender meat dish. Selamat Makan!
