Selat solo facts for kids
Selat Solo
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| Course | Main course |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Indonesia |
| Region or state | Central Java |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredients | Braised beef tenderloin served in thin watery sauce, served with vegetables and potato |
Selat Solo is a delicious dish from Solo city in Central Java, Indonesia. Its name means "Solo salad" in Javanese. However, it's not really a salad! It's more like a special kind of beef steak served with a unique sauce.
This dish is a mix of Javanese and Western cooking styles. It features tender beef tenderloin cooked slowly in a thin, flavorful sauce. The sauce is made with ingredients like garlic, vinegar, sweet soy sauce called kecap manis, and Worcestershire sauce. It also has spices like nutmeg and black pepper.
Selat Solo is served with many yummy sides. You'll often find a hard boiled egg and lots of vegetables. These can include string beans, potato, tomato, lettuce, cucumber, cauliflower or broccoli, and carrot. It's usually topped with crispy potato chips. Sometimes, you might get a little mustard or hollandaise sauce on the side too. People sometimes call this dish Bistik Jawa, which means Javanese beefsteak.
Contents
How Selat Solo Was Created
A Blend of Cultures
Selat Solo has an interesting history that goes back to the time when the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) was a colony. European people, especially the Dutch, brought their food and cooking methods with them.
New Foods Arrive
Some Javanese nobles and educated people started to try European foods. They liked things like breads, cheeses, and beefsteak. These foods were seen as fancy and popular among the upper class.
Javanese Twist
Because of this, Javanese cooks began to mix European cooking ideas with their own. This led to new dishes, including Selat Solo, which was created in Surakarta (Solo). It's believed that Selat Solo is a Javanese version of European beefsteak.
Sweet and Savory Flavors
You can still see the European influence in the dish today. For example, it uses mustard or hollandaise and Worcestershire sauce. But the Javanese love for a slightly sweet taste is also there, thanks to the kecap manis (sweet soy sauce). This mix of flavors makes Selat Solo truly special!
