Hi!
After months since I plan to write on this topic, I finally gather enough motivation to write about the many types of Indonesian soups. It’s currently fasting time here for Moslems, so I posted this late at night (according to my time zone).
There are a lot of soups in Indonesia, and not all of them use the word ‘sup’ nor ‘sop’ in them. Here, I define sup as any dishes with a lot of water and not too thick, to differentiate them with stews (which I might write about another time…). I will also exclude dishes where the soup is an addition, such as noodles (‘mie’), meatball (‘bakso’, including bakso malang and cuankie) which I personally see more as a snack on a cold day, and gudeg.
I think Indonesian soups can roughly be divided into two types: one with meat in them and another with vegetable(s). The ones with meat typically fall into the main dish category and some also contains vegetable and/or carbs, whilst the ones with vegetable lean more towards side dish.
Right, here are the names and pictures of some Indonesian soup dishes. I won’t write all of them as I have not tried all Indonesian soups and thus have limited knowledge. If you want to know more about the recipe for each soups, just google the Indonesian names and use translation app or contact me to know the recipe in English.
Now, let’s start with the soups with meat first.
Timlo
Clear soup with chicken innards, most notably the one from Solo is served with sosis Solo, which is not actually a sausage (‘sosis’) but rather minced meat wrapped in omelette
Sup buntut
Oxtail soup with carrot and potato
Sup iga
Clear beef ribs soup, very similar to sup buntut just with different beef part
Sup konro
Creamy beef ribs soup from South Sulawesi
Coto Makassar
Hearty beef innards soup originating from Makassar, South Sulawesi. You can usually choose the innards you want, such as tripe and tounge
Soto
There are so many types of soto, such as soto Lamongan, soto Betawi, soto Kudus, soto ayam, and soto mie, each with their own unique spice (thus different flavours and colour, though most have a yellowish colour), primary ingredients (not only in regards to the meat but also other ingredient in the soup such as vermicelli in soto ayam and radish in soto Bandung), and the condiments (such as the use of koya powder in soto Lamongan and the different types of kerupuk for different soto)
Opor ayam and lontong opor
Chicken soup made with coconut milk, milky in color, sometimes served with lontong, thus the second name
Kari
Indonesian curry, which tends to be thinner than Japanese curry but thicker than Thai curry, uses coconut milk, and yellow to red in color
Sup merah
Kinda-thick red soup (thanks to tomato paste) filled with cut sausages, carrot, macaroni, shredded chicken, and peas, said to be a result of European and Chinese influences in Surabaya
Rawon
Beef soup typically served with short beansprout, salted egg, and kerupuk udang. It’s blackish in colour thanks to kluwek which, according to Wikipedia, is the boiled and treated seeds of Pangium. Here’s a picture of kluwek:
Next, we have the soups with vegetables, also called ‘janganan’ or ‘jangan’.
Sayur asem
Murky but refreshingly sour soup filled with chayote, red beans, long beans, belimbing wuluh (Averrhoa bilimbi?), melinjo beans and leaves, and sweet corn
Sayur lodeh
Thin soup made with coconut milk and filled with vegetables such as chayote, young jackfruit, long bean, eggplant, melinjo, and not-fried tempe
Sayur bening
Any clear (with ‘bening’ itself means clear or transparent) vegetable soup, though usually refers to the one made using spinach, chayote, and sweet corn, tend to be a bit sweet
Sop sayur
Any vegetable soup, usually clear and not sweet, filled with different cuts of vegetables such as carrot, potato, green bean, cauliflower, and (not Chinese) cabbage, sometimes along with vermicelli and pieces of meatball or diced chicken
Bobor
Like sayur bening as in it consists of spinach and chayote, but with coconut milk in its broth
Those are some Indonesian soups commonly found in many big cities in Indonesia, particularly in Java. A lot of stores adjusted their recipes to match the palate of the local people (I only know for certain that East Javanese likes salty and Central Javanese likes sweet (extremely so)). There are, of course, many more soups in Indonesia. You can try them for yourself when you visit Indonesia. Though be warned that many of our soups use coconut milk and non-pork meats.
As a bonus, I’ll write down the recipe for rawon from my university (yes, I was a culinary student, don’t judge me). You can try to make it if you want, though I don’t want whether you can procure the main ingredient, kluwek, or not where you live.
That’s all for now, see you next time~
Rawon
Portion: 10 persons
Ingredients:
400 gr beef flank (cubed)
5 pcs kluwek
5 gr dried shrimp paste (petis)
40 gr shallot
20 gr garlic
10 gr coriander powder
5 gr turmeric
3 tbsp. tamarind water
50 cc oil
5 gr galangal
2 pcs lemon grass
4 pcs lime leaves
4 pcs bay leaves
30 gr brown sugar
40 gr spring onion (sliced, 2 cm long)
2 litre beef stock
Salt & pepper
Sambal:
30 gr small chili (bird’s eye chili)
10 gr garlic
10 gr red chili
5 gr dried shrimp paste (petis)
Garnish:
Small & short bean sprouts
Fried shallot (brambang goreng)
Lime
Indonesian shrimp cracker (kerupuk udang)
Instructions:
Blend (either using mortar and pestle or food processor) together the (inside of the) kluwek, petis, shallot, garlic, coriander power, and turmeric.
Sauté together the blended spices in oil with galangal, lemon grass, lime leaves, bay leaves, and spring onion until fragrant.
Add the cubed beef and sauté for a bit.
Pour in the beef stock and simmer until the meat is tender.
Add tamarind water, brown sugar, salt, and pepper to taste.
Transfer to a bowl.
To make the chili, simply blend together all the ingredients.
Rawon is ready to be served with the sambal, garnish, and, if you want, white rice, salted egg, and shrimp cracker(s)^^
PS: I went to Australia last year and my friend’s husband gave me vegemite to try. I personally think it held similarities to petis, though a tad bit sweeter and less fishy, so you can use it as a substitute with a few adjustments if they’re easier to find in your area (never tried it before though, so you’re on your own if you do decide to use vegemite).
Comments