Rawon, East Java’s Black Soup

Rawon is typical cuisine of East Java. It’s a kind of soup, but if for most people soup is usually served in a clear or diluted broth. However, in East Java, the soup’s served in a black broth. And that soup is called Rawon. Generally, the beef is cut into bite sized pieces. The blackness is obtained from its main ingredient, namely kluwek. Many Indonesian food use kluwek or black-broth based, but still, to my opinion the strongest black is in East Java‘s Rawon. A bowl of Rawon, with its black broth, typical aroma, and the kluwek made a strong taste of nuts. It takes high precision to balance the spices such as kluwek, pecan,orange leaves, bay leaves, lemongrass, and onion. Therefore, “there is no standard way of creating rawon”. There’s always different taste of Rawon. Every Rawon has their own unique taste.

As far as I know, Rawon always served with short bean sprouts. Without short bean sprouts, Rawon is not Rawon. Those bean sprouts are responsible for the crunchy and sweet taste in Rawon. There are also salted egg and shrimp white snack too as side companions. Some restaurant and stalls also serve tofu and fried crisp tempe as additional companion.Lastly, don’t forget the sambal to make it even tastes better.

A bowl of complete Rawon costs about Rp 15.000 or US $1.5. And I assure you that it’s worth it. There are many kinds of Rawon like beef ribs rawon, beef tail rawon, beef lung rawon, beef tongue rawon tongue, spleen rawon, and so on. Each is mixed in the glowing black-broth with unforgettable crunch. The crunch that will make you ask for more.

Have a nice weekend, and don’t forget to have a taste of Rawon when you visiting East Java, Indonesia.