Pomelo Salad with Tripe/Kerabu Limau Bali & Babat

Star Q

i.  Kuswadinata : The Passing of a Star

ii.  Stay Safe, Kids

Chinese New Year sees a lot of fruits that we normally do not get all year round.  Unlike apples and oranges for example, Pomelos usually appear when it gets closer to celebrating the Luna New Year and slowly makes it exit almost after the fifteenth.  There are two main types of pomelos; the pink-fleshed ones and the white-fleshed ones.

It can be a tricky thing trying to buy pomelos and you are always at the mercy of the sellers who more often than not claim their fruits to be sweet beyond imagination!  The truth however, can only be sampled once you take the fruit home!  You will be disappointed to find out that the flesh is not sweet!  I, however was lucky enough to get this white-fleshed one (even though I would have preferred the pink one for presentation!) which was not sweet but had a slightly sour tang to it; thus suitable for turning it into this salad!

• 3 cups Pomelo flesh
• 300 g tripe, cleaned, boiled and sliced thinly
• 2 ginger torch buds, sliced thinly
• 1 Spanish onion, sliced thinly
• 2 small lemon grass, sliced thinly
• 10 birds eye chilies, chopped
• 1/2 cup toasted grated coconut, roughly pounded
• 300 ml coconut cream
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp chicken stock granules
• 2 tsp fish stock
• 1 tsp sugar
• Juice from 1 lime

First prepare the dressing.  Mix the coconut cream, water, fish stock, lime juice and stir in the chicken stock granules and sugar until diluted.  Put the tripe (you can substitute this with shredded boiled chicken) into the dressing and leave to macerate for about ten minutes (since tripe is rather bland)

Next, in a large bowl, put in the pomelo flesh, ginger torch buds, onion, lemon grass and mix in the toasted grated coconut.  Pour in the dressing and mix thoroughly to combine.  Leave for a few minutes for the flavors to marry (if you can wait!) before serving.