Rujak petis
Rujak petis is a savory fruit and vegetable salad that comes from Ponorogo, East Java. The dish is recognized by its distinctive dark sauce made with petis, a thick, sweet fermented shrimp paste that gives it a rich umami flavor.
Unlike many other rujak varieties that lean toward sour and sweet profiles, rujak petis is characterized by a pronounced salty depth balanced with palm sugar and tamarind. The base of the salad typically includes slices of cucumber, jicama, unripe mango, water spinach stems, bean sprouts, and sometimes steamed vegetables like long beans.
These fresh, crisp ingredients are combined with the sauce just before serving to preserve their texture. Preparation of rujak petis begins by pounding roasted peanuts, bird’s eye chilies, and garlic into a coarse paste. Palm sugar is added along with tamarind water, salt, and a generous portion of petis udang. Read more
The mixture is stirred until smooth, forming a thick, sticky dressing that clings to every piece of fruit and vegetable. In many households and street stalls, vendors keep the sauce ready in large bowls and assemble each portion to order by mixing the sauce with freshly cut produce.
The final result is a complex combination of crunchy, refreshing bites coated with a concentrated sweet-salty dressing. Rujak petis is widely enjoyed as a snack or light meal, especially during the afternoon. It is often served on banana leaves or small paper wrappers, and sometimes accompanied by krupuk crackers for additional crunch.
While it is closely associated with Surabaya and other cities in East Java, variations of rujak petis are found throughout the province, with slight differences in the ratio of petis to palm sugar or in the kinds of vegetables used. The sauce itself is also used in other dishes such as tahu tek and lontong balap, reflecting its importance in East Javanese cooking.
Vendors often prepare the petis themselves by simmering shrimp stock and reducing it to a syrupy paste, ensuring a more robust and complex flavor than factory-made versions. In recent years, packaged rujak petis sauce has become popular among people living outside Java, helping spread the dish beyond its original region.
