Rawon

I must admit that I am running out of cooking ideas lately. Half not in the mood of doing something repetitive (due to fatigue probably), the other half is that I am feeling that I am not a great chef, which make me reluctant to act in front of the stove (yeah that stove is like a stage for me..i stand in front of it more than i stand in front of Mr. Gorilla, haha).. I do feel that I have already tried most of Indonesian cuisine. I just realised that living for almost 4 years here, has made me try almost different dishs each day (confirmed by my husband, that actually makes him thinking that Indonesia is a very rich country in taste! - huh..has he forgotten that i cook also other asian countrie's cooking). I feel that it is really not easy being creative, as you probably can see from my blog...huuu....

And anyway, last night, I made Rawon, the famous black beef soup from East of Java, Indonesia. I think i have upload the recipe in my old blog, or even in the new blog...This is one of the repetitions that i am talking about just now. But anyway, it tastes so good that you will have to make it more than 20 times in your lifetime....gulp...

This one is my own recipe, inspired by a friend's and a book about East Java cuisines. She said that Rawon is best consumed a day after, so you need to prepare it the day before and heat it again (logic ha!). But then a famous french chef would say that if you say so, then you are not a good cook. Oh who cares what he thinks, I still agree to the former opinion, because “mijoté/simmer” technique is a must in this case.

It is too bad that I did not have the appropriate accompanies for rawon such as boiled duck salty eggs, bean sprouts, and sambal. Fortunately I still have fried shallots...

Anyway this is an easy recipe. As usual, i am using powder spices!

Ingredients:

• 300 gr beef (I chose bifteck/steak) cut in dice
• 20 gr kluwek paste, soak in a cup of hot water, sewage and blend till smooth
• 1 lemon grass, bruised
• 2 salam (indonesian bayleaf/laurier) leaves
• 3 kaffir leaves
• 2 cups of water
• 1 tsp ghee
• 1 or 2 tbs of chopped spring onions

Ground Spices

• 1 tsp galanga in powder
• 2 shallots
• 1 garlic
• 6 bird's eye chillies
• 0,5 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 0,5 tsp white pepper powder
• 1 tsp shrimp paste
• 2 tsp white sugar
• 1 tsp or more
• 1 tbs grains of coriander

kluwek (or kluwak) nuts and paste

Direction:

1. Heat the ghee in frying pan, and sauté the ground spices, bruised lemon grass, kluwek paste, salam and kaffir leaves.
2. Add the beef cuts cook till half done.
3. Add the water.
4. Simmer until the sauce turns a little bit thick (but the idea of rawon is actually a soup) , add the chopped spring onions and turn of the fire.
5. Serve with the companions and rice.