The salad I am referring to does not require the popular lettuce such as romaine, iceberg or butterhead.
Instead, it calls for local herbs and vegetables largely enjoyed by the Malay community.
Better known as kerabu, this traditional salad mix is not limited to one recipe as there are many variations, depending on the ingredients you have at hand.
This Malay-style salad is often a hotchpotch of raw and cooked ingredients, at times tossed with a dressing, and savoured as a side dish.
Kerabu can comprise fresh local greens such as kacang botol (four angled beans), kacang panjang (long beans), pucuk paku (fiddlehead fern) and eggplant, to name a few.
Local herbs like daun kesum (laksa leaves), bunga kantan (torch ginger bud), daun kadok (wild betel leaf), sawtooth coriander and daun kunyit (turmeric leaves) can also be added to the mix.
You can even make kerabu with other fresh ingredients from your backyard.
These could include mango, star fruit, belimbing buluh (bilimbi or cucumber tree), jantung pisang (banana flower), bunga betik (papaya flower), cucumber and pineapple.
Back in my hometown of Kluang, Johor, a variety of local herbs are among the garden greens that I look forward to picking and mixing with aromatics to make kerabu.
If I wasn’t preparing kerabu, I would just pluck ulam (wild edible flora) such as ulam raja or daun selasih (Thai basil leaves) to have with my meals.
A personal favourite is Kerabu Bunga Kantan Ikan Bilis which is a fibrous mix that is crunchy, zesty and filled with herbal goodness.
What’s nice about this recipe is that no cooking is involved.
Instead of frying the ikan bilis (anchovies), I wash and dry these before popping them into the microwave.
Kerabu Bunga Kantan Ikan Bilis is best eaten with rice, and perhaps a fried egg, or fried fish topped with sambal belacan for a quick and easy meal.
Kerabu Bunga Kantan Ikan Bilis
Ingredients
3 stalks bunga kantan
2 stalks serai (lemongrass)
1 bulb, or about 60g of red onion
1 frond daun kunyit
1 pod Thai green chilli
1 pod Thai red chilli
The rind of 2 whole limau kasturi (calamansi limes), sliced finely
30g ikan bilis washed, dried and toasted
Dressing
5 limau kasturi
½ tsp salt
2 tsp fine sugar
2 tsp fish sauce
Directions
Wash and drain the ikan bilis, and spread out on a microwaveable plate.
Toast the ikan bilis for about one-and-a- half minutes to two minutes in a microwave oven.
Remove ikan bilis from the oven, cool down and transfer to a serving bowl.
Clean and finely dice the bunga kantan, and serai stalks.
Dice one red onion and add to the bowl along with the bunga kantan and serai.
Next, remove the main vein along the centre of the daun kunyit.
Cut the leaf into four equal parts and stack these on top of each other.
Roll the stack to resemble a cigar and slice this finely.
Daun kesum may be used as a substitute for daun kunyit.
Daun kadok can be added into this recipe, if you have these.
Next, slice the Thai chillies.
Add sliced daun kunyit (and/or daun kesum) and chillies to the bowl.
Placing a strainer over another bowl, squeeze the juice from the five limau kasturi and discard the seeds.
Reserve some limau kasturi rind to be sliced finely for a zesty aroma plus bitter and sour accents to the kerabu.
Flavour up the limau kasturi juice with salt, fine sugar and fish sauce as per the recipe, or according to taste.
The limau kasturi dressing should have a balance of sweet and tangy flavours, be full of umami and have hints of salt.
Do remember to be cautious with the use of salt as the ikan bilis is salty.
Toss the ingredients together and taste for seasoning.
This kerabu should not be soggy.
Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for a few days.
