Rawon facts for kids
Rawon setan (devil's rawon), a variation served late at night
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| Course | Main course |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Indonesia |
| Region or state | Surabaya and Malang, East Java |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredients | Meat, keluak nut |
Rawon is a super cool and unique beef soup from Indonesia! It comes from a place called East Java. What makes rawon so special is a black nut called keluak. This nut gives the soup its famous dark color and a yummy, nutty flavor. It's a popular main dish, often eaten hot with rice.
What's in Rawon?
Making rawon starts with a special mix of ingredients. Imagine grinding up garlic, shallots (which are like small onions), keluak nuts, ginger, candlenut, turmeric (which is yellow), red chili, and salt. This mix is then cooked in a little oil until it smells amazing!
Next, this cooked spice mix is added to a pot of hot beef broth. Diced pieces of beef are already in the broth, cooking until they are tender.
To make the soup even more flavorful, cooks add things like lemongrass, galangal (another root like ginger), bay leaves, kaffir lime leaves, and a little sugar. The keluak nut is the secret ingredient that makes the soup dark, almost black!
When it's ready, rawon is usually topped with fresh green onions and crispy fried shallots. It's almost always served with a big scoop of rice. Sometimes, people also add bean sprouts, a salty preserved egg, crispy crackers called krupuk, or fried black-eyed peas.
Rawon's Ancient History
Did you know rawon is one of the oldest dishes from ancient Java? It's true! This soup was even mentioned in an old Javanese writing from the year 901 CE. That's over 1,100 years ago! The writing, called the Taji inscription, called it rarawwan. This shows how long people in the Mataram Kingdom have enjoyed this tasty soup.
Different Kinds of Rawon
While rawon is loved all over Indonesia, there are a few different versions. The most famous kind comes from a city called Surabaya.
One fun version is called rawon setan, which means "devil's rawon." Don't worry, it's not scary! It's just a name because this rawon is sold super late at night, from midnight until the sun comes up. It's like a special treat for night owls! You can find it at small food stalls called warung.
In Balinese cuisine, which is food from the island of Bali, rawon is a bit different. They don't use the black keluak nut, so their soup is brown instead of black. Also, because most Balinese people follow the Hindu religion, they often prefer to eat pork instead of beef in their rawon.
