Harmony with a Bowl of Rawon

Hello guys. As a food enthusiast, his is my third week to share something priceless about food. Food is considered as an identity of the human beings in some places, because food provides our needs in form of energy. If we are talking about identity, I think it's my perfect time to let you guys know some of my identity. I am Felix, an Indonesian student who enjoy food so much. I like to eat nasi goreng, which is one of an 'identity' that labeled by the most foreigners to identifying Indonesian food. As I believe, food is not just about something we eat, but it also talks about memories with the people that we have spent together in our life, especially family. I pray all the best for your family whatever your relationship condition with them. But in this time, let me share few things about my activity with my family. Are you ready? Let's go!!!

Anyway, let me introduce my amazing family members. My family has 5 core members, there are my father, mother, myself, and my two little brothers. If I have to compare my family with another family, I could say that my family has more privilege and happier. I had asked several friends about their life with their family, and they have spent quality time rarely with their family. Even though, family time is a good opportunity for us to knowing more about their characteristic and to maintain relationship. Just because we have maintained a good relationship with our boyfriend/girlfriend make us forget to maintain a good quality relationship with our family. Our family need our presence to give warmness and love.

There are lots of way to have a good relationship with our family. I have known someone that have spent their quality time by having breakfast together once a week. In that moment, food is involved, and memory is created. I and my family are often to do these two things, there are looking for some food or having vacation, at least 2 times in a year (Christmas holiday and academic holiday). We have much time to travel to several places, such as Bandung, Bogor, Semarang, Jogjakarta, and many more. At the first week, I have shared a glimpse of our Semarang's trip. You can read the article below.

See also: My Semarang's Food Journey

And it's story time. After we visited Central Java, several moments later we were planning to explore East Java. We have stepped our feet in 3 places in East Java, there are Surabaya, Malang, and Banyuwangi. For your information, East Java has its own characteristics that make this province is quite different from another Java's province. East Java's Javanese (traditional language) is ruder according to several people outside East Java. Besides that, East Java also rich of delicious foods that can make our tongue is dancing. One of the most popular foods that came from East Java is an ugly black beef soup called Rawon. So, yeah, we are looking for the best rawon in its land.

The first Rawon I ate when I had arrived in Surabaya, East Java in June 2023. 

Based on the information I have got from the internet, it stated that Rawon has established since 901 AD. At that time, rawon served as king and noble's dishes. Rawon's fame still exists in this modern era. All layers of the society can enjoy this soup affordably. In 2020, Rawon also mentioned as one of the tastiest soups in the world according to TasteAtlas. Wow, amazing right? But maybe you guys are wondering, how can the unappetizing black soup be so special? 

The specialty of Rawon itself comes from the one main ingredient called kluwek. Kluwek is a fermented seed that originally came from a tree called kepayang, which is one of the tropical trees that planted in Indonesia. Kluwek is the answer why rawon's color uninteresting and make the flavor become unique. It soups also include several additional ingredients, such as shallot, garlic, curcumin, chili, and several aromatics such as lemongrass, candlenut, coriander, and galangal.  This makes Rawon's flavor becomes complex and rich, even its appearance looks like something unpleasant. 

I think I have eaten rawon several times directly in East Java. There is a rawon-specialist restaurant that I will recommend to you guys. It named "Sari Rawon" or it called extract rawon in English. It located in a city called Probolinggo, around 1 hour from Surabaya, the capital of East Java. At that time, I was meant to continue our long trip from Surabaya to Bali. But due to our stomach's condition needed to be filled, we decided to have a meal first in Probolinggo. 

Unfortunately, there is no picture for the rawon there. But the thing that I able to be remembered was the rawon's fillings. Usually, rawon's fillings are just bean sprouts, high quality beef, and salted egg that covered with amazing black soup. At that restaurant, they provided a rawon with fried tempe and empal fillings. Anyway, tempe is a soybean's fermented product that tastes savory. It was rare and quite strange because we never had rawon with tempe. Meanwhile empal is one of the fried processed beef with spices. You can also see another article of empal specifically below:

See also: Things to know about Empal

When I ate my first bite, I mixed rice with soup poured on the top of the rice with a meat and little bite of the beef and several ingredients like crackers. Then I can't describe how good is this food to me, that indirectly remind us to stay united even we and our family probably have different characteristic. From its differences, it will lead the harmony between the family and give the outstanding impact to others.  

The soft meat was so juicy, and the fat was melted in my mouth, the smell of this soup also great, and it has unique flavor. Shortly, rawon is incredible for me, all the members of my family really enjoy. We were laughing together having some fun together and talking about our plan in Bali in next day. That moment that makes our chemistry become closer with bowls of rawon. 

Warmth of the rawon's soup was spread to my family's feelings. It made the rawon taste became tastier and it would last in my mind forever. Small moments are mattered to build the chemistry of the relationship. You can start to buy something that your family love. And at the same time, I realized that without them, it's impossible for me to reach this phase. So, be thanks for somebody that have spent their time and love to you with your grateful heart.