Rawon
Rawon or Nasi Rawon (Rawon Rice) is a strong rich tasting traditional Indonesian beef black soup. Rawon is originally from Surabaya, it is black because it uses black nuts/keluwek/kepayang in Malay (Pangeum edule, fruits of kepayang tree) as the main spice which gives the strong nutty flavor and dark color to the soup.
The soup is made of ground mixture of garlic, shallot, keluwak, ginger, candlenut, turmeric, red chili and salt sauteed with oil until it gets fragrant. The sauteed mixture is then poured into boiled beef stock with diced beef. Lemongrass, galangal, bay leaves, kaffir lime leaves and sugar are then added as seasonings. The special dark/black color of rawon comes from the keluak as the main spice.
The soup is usually garnished with green onion and fried shallot, and served with rice, hence the name Rawon Rice or Nasi Rawon in Indonesian language, together with baby bean sprouts, salted preserved egg, shrimp crackers and sambal chili sauce on the side.
It is better served hot and ate at any times. Together with Soto, Rawon is also having popular name among the society around East Java or outside province. There are stalls that put Rawon into their menus and there are also particular stalls that significantly serve Rawon as their main menu.
