A Walk to Kareem Pasembur Rojak

We had bought a packet of Pasembur from a stall on Penang Road and somehow I just felt that I needed to get the one from Kareem Pasembur Rojak as well. So we walked over to Union Street from Penang Road to where Kareem operates from.

For the uninitiated, pasembur is a delectable Indian cuisine salad that blends a delightful medley of flavours and textures into one harmonious dish. It is sometimes known as Rojak Mamak.

We decided to do a take-away since it was a hot day. Once we had gotten back to the hotel, we sat down to savour the pasembur. Comparing the two sets of pasembur, we noticed the array of ingredients and sauce that came with Kareem's offering. The ingredients included fresh cucumber, turnip, bean sprouts, tofu, prawn fritters, and sotong. Each of these contributing to the dish's colours and contrasting textures.

What usually elevates the pasembur experience is usually the sauce that they provide which is doused over the ingredients. The sauce, with its balance of sweet, savoury, and slightly spicy flavours, should bring all the elements together on our palates. Interestingly, we liked the sauce from the first stall which had a slightly more satay sauce like texture. A chunkier sauce compared to the one from Kareem Pasembur Rojak which was not chunky.

In that sense, we had the best of both stalls. The first stall was the Pasembur stall operating inside Joo Hooi Cafe where the famous Penang Road cendol operates from the side street. The difference in pricing is telling. The first one was RM10, while Kareem Pasembur Rojak was just RM7.