Rawon is a traditional Javanese black beef soup made with keluak, a black nut that gives it its unique color and flavor. It is served with a variety of accompaniments and side dishes and is a signature food of East and Central Java, Indonesia. The keluak nut is difficult to find and requires rigorous processing before it can be used as food.
Rawon is a Javanese black beef soup that has its origins in Surabaya, one of the provinces of East Java, Indonesia. This aromatic and flavourful soup is one of the traditional dishes of Indonesia and is typically served over rice or glass noodles. The main spice in this dish is keluak, a black nut which is the seed of the fruit of the Kepayang tree found in the region. This spice is responsible for giving the soup its exotic, deep black color.
This soup or stew is considered to be one of the signature foods of Jawa Timur and Eastern Jawa Tengah. It comes with a variety of accompaniments, such as prawn crackers, mung bean sprouts, salted duck eggs, and sambal chili sauce. Sometimes, it is called Nasi Rowan or Rawon rice in Indonesia when served on top of a bowl of rice.
A bonanza of various flavors, this black soup is typically served with a huge assortment of colorful side dishes. Some of the most common side dishes are green onion, blanched bean sprouts, and crunchy shallot flakes. It can also be garnished with hard-boiled egg wedges and Chinese celery sticks. While it is served as a main dish in both East and Central Java, there are subtle differences in both its appearance and taste in the two regions. Rawon made in Central Java is sweeter and black in color than the Rawon stew found in East Java.
The beef in this soup is diced and is sometimes pressure cooked until tender. The stew contains a potent ground spice mix made from an array of fresh and dry ingredients – red chiles, garlic, shallots and candelut – which thicken the dish. It also has turmeric, galanga which is a type of ginger and keluak. These spices are usually ground, sautéed in oil, and added to the boiling beef stock that contains the diced meat. Sometimes, it’s also topped with kaffir lime leaves, leeks, bay leaves, and lemongrass.
Rawon soup’s unique nutty flavor comes from the black keluak nut. It is a hard shelled seed that resembles a Brazil nut and is considered difficult to find. This is because the seeds are harvested from wild Kepayang trees which take years to mature; they are not grown commercially because they are not economically viable. The fruit and seeds are poisonous and require rigorous processing before they can be used as food. Keluak is sometimes found in premixed spice pastes.
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