Rawon (Javanese Beef Soup with Keluak) Recipe

This is a Javanese soup that we really enjoyed in Yogyakarta, and I'm glad I have the chance to make this at home. With the surplus of buah keluak in my fridge from all the Peranakan dishes that I've been cooking (I bought a whole kilo!), as well as leftover candlenuts and turmeric, I made this recipe from Devina Hermawan, a cooking instructor and Masterchef contestant. 

After all the rich Peranakan buah keluak stews that we'd been eating over the last week, this light herbal broth came like a breath of fresh air. My whole family is now fans of rawon, and this may actually be our favourite buah keluak recipe. 

The soup is easy enough to put together on a relaxing off-day, but my schedule was pretty packed for the month. There wasn't an off-day to spare :/, and with the ingredients languishing in the fridge for the better part of a week, I finally bit the bullet and made the soup on a balmy Thursday night after dinner. It was the family dinner for Friday, and finally, I took these pictures of the leftover soup on a Saturday lunch. Life often gets in the way, doesn't it? Still, the pictures - and the soup - turned out really well. 

Rawon (Javanese Beef Soup with Keluak) Recipe
Original recipe by Devina Hermawan, with the written recipe translated by ChatGPT
Serves: 4-5 servings

Ingredients
1 kg beef, chopped into palm-sized pieces (you can choose a tough cut like shanks or chuck, or a more tender cut if you prefer)
4 candlenuts
6 cloves garlic
3 cm turmeric
5 pieces of buah keluak paste
10 shallots, peeled and chopped into thirds
50 ml cooking oil
50 ml water (optional, if using a food processor to blend the spices)
2 stalks lemongrass, bruised and chopped lengthwise into thirds
2 bay leaves
5 kaffir lime leaves
1 red tomato
500m + 1000ml just-boiled water
1 beef bouillon cube
1.5 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon white pepper
1 stalk of scallion, cut lengthwise into 3-4 pieces
Salted eggs (optional, to serve alongside)
Fried shallots (optional, to serve alongside)
Lime wedges (optional, to serve alongside)
Bean sprouts (optional, to serve alongside)

STEPS

1. Season the beef lightly with salt, ideally overnight in a refrigerator.

When ready to cook:

2. Make the rempah (spice paste): In a mortar and pestle, pound candlenuts into a paste, then add garlic. Crush the garlic, then followed in turn by turmeric, then buah keluak, and finally the shallots. You can use a food processor for this if you prefer. If so, add 50ml of neutral oil and 50ml water into the food processor to help with the blending.

3. In a large wok or pot set over medium-low heat, add oil and sauté the ground spices until the paste breaks, becoming aromatic and releasing oil, about 7-8 minutes. (If you have added oil to blend the spices in a food processor, you can omit adding further oil to the pot). Then add lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and bay leaves and sauté for 1-2 more minutes until fragrant.

4. Add 500ml of just-boiled water to deglaze the pot, making sure to scrape up any of the delicious fond. If you're using a pressure cooker to complete the cook, you may now remove the pot from heat, and go on to Step 5. If not using a pressure cooker, add the remaining ingredients (including the 1000ml of water), then cover and cook for about 3-4 hours, stirring once in a while and adding more water if needed. Remove from heat when the beef pieces are tender, and let cool slightly before serving.

If using a pressure cooker:

5. In a pressure cooker pot, add the beef, red tomato, scallion, beef bouillon, white pepper, and sugar. Pour the cooked spice broth into the pressure cooker pot, followed by the remainder (1000ml) of the water.

6. In the pressure cooker, cook the soup for about 30-45 minutes (for more tender cuts), and about 60-80 minutes (for tougher cuts like shanks or chuck). Let the pressure cooker depressurise completely (perhaps another 45 minutes to an hour) before unlatching the pressure cooker to serve the soup.

7. Serve the rawon in individual bowls. Common accompaniments are halved salted eggs, bean sprouts, lime wedges, fried shallots and sambal.

How to Prepare Salted Eggs: 

These need to be washed and cooked before serving. Scrub off the ash with a bit of water (if the salted eggs come individually packed in plastic sheaths, you can fill up the plastic sheath with water and rub the ash off, to avoid clogging up your kitchen sink with ash.) Shake each egg vigorously to centre the egg yolk, then boil in simmering water for about 10 minutes to cook the egg. Remove from the water, let cool, and peel. Quarter and serve.