Asem-asem and Pindang Serani

My mom used to make a Javanese meat soup which i loved. As you all probably know, that i did not like Indonesian dish when i was a kid, bu t her meat soup which is called "asem-asem", (asem means acid) ugh, j'adore! But that was before she started adding curcuma (turmeric) inside that asem-asem to give it the yellow color, she said it is another variation. I told her that i don't see the difference between that and the regular meat soto if she makes it like that. Beside, i did not like turmeric (only when i live in france that i start to like it and coconut milk as well! Imagine being Indonesian, and does not like those two things, you can picture how stupid i was when i was young!).

Anyway, i made "Pindang Serani" yesterday, and i love the smell of the spices inside, which reminds me of my mom's yellow asem-asem. So i decided to make the asem-asem, but i add other spices so that i can call it my own version of asem-asem? Hehe...

Anyway, sometimes she made pindang-serani-kind of dish too at home, and as you might guess it, i did not like it either, so i hardly ate it.

Ingredients:

• 2 cm curcuma/turmeric, peeled and minced
• 5 cm galangal, crushed
  
• 1 tps ginger powder
• 1 tbs dry shrimp crushed
• 1 chili (or more) thinly sliced
• ½ tps andaliman or schezuan poivre
• 1 lemon grass thinly sliced
• 1 big shallots thinly sliced
• 2 garlic thinly sliced
• 2 tomatoes cut in wedges
• 1 tps raw salt
• 1 lemon, (for the juice)
• 1 spring onion thinly sliced
• 750 ml water
• 500 gr beef, cut

How to....?

1. Boil the beef in the water. Take out the residue resulting from the process (add water if necessary).
2. Add the remaining ingredients (except the spring onion).
3. Cook until the beef goes tender, throw in the spring onion, continue cooking for 1 minute.
4. Add the lemon juice and serve as rice's companion.

To make Pindang Serani:
The same spices as above, (except the andaliman, lemon, spring onion, shrimp and lemon).
Replace the beef with fish.
Boil the spices altogether, and then add the fish in the end, and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.

pindang serani