Jukut Murab is a Balinese salad containing black-eyed peas and a dressing with chili, tamarind and coconut. I adore black-eyed peas and I’ve never met a coconut dish I didn’t want to live on for eternity so I’ve wanted to try a vegan version of this salad for quite some time (the traditional version usually contains shrimp paste). I did quite the extensive web search to compare different recipes and finally came up with a version that wouldn’t require a trip to the grocery store for out-of-season herbs and a single red chili.
It’s an extremely healthy meal. The fat in the dressing comes from unsweetened flaked coconut, there’s a single teaspoon of salt in the entire salad, and the beans give you plenty of fibre and protein.
More importantly, the salad is absolutely wonderful taste-wise! It’s great served right away; but like most bean dishes, the flavours deepen when it’s been allowed to chill for a few hours (or overnight).
The salad itself doesn’t have a lot of flavour, it’s a very simple combination of black-eyed peas, cucumber and green onions. All the intense flavours come from the dressing…a wonderful tangy, sweet, spicy dressing, heavily accented by coconut flakes.
Jukut Murab (Black-Eyed Pea Salad)
–1 lb. dried black-eyed peas
-1 cucumber, chopped or sliced
-3 green onions, chopped
-1 tsp. dried mint
-1 tsp. tamarind paste; whisked with 2 T. water and strained, reserving liquid
-1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
-2 small cloves garlic, minced
-juice of one lime
-1 tsp. brown sugar
-1 tsp. salt
Soak the peas in enough water to cover them completely by at least 1″ for 8 hours. Rinse and drain. Put in a large pot and cover with at least 3″ water. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat and continue cooking for 1 hour, or until tender.
Alternately, place the dried peas directly in a pot and cover with at least 3″ water. Bring to a gentle boil; reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the peas. Cover with 3″ water; bring to a gentle boil; reduce heat and cook 1 hour, or till peas are tender. Drain and cool completely.
Add the cucumber and green onions to the beans and toss thoroughly.
Combine all remaining ingredients in a small bowl; whisk well. Pour over salad and toss gently to combine. Serve immediately, if you wish or chill and serve the next day.
thx for sharing the recipe. It looks pretty good 🙂
[…] In the summer, Rob and I had a fun time (literally) cracking open a fresh coconut. I used a big knife to shave off the outer skin, and then scored a circle to open it. I tried to smack it open with the heel of my knife but it didn’t work. Rob then took said coconut to the front porch and smashed it against the front step to crack it open. We then took turns sipping the coconut water through a straw. Bliss. I ended up using the coconut flesh for an Indonesian black eyed pea salad with a tamarind dressing. […]