Soto Betawi, traditional soup from Jakarta.

June 2009, when we left India, some of my friends sent me email and told me that they would miss the colorful pictures from my blog posting.
Ooh, let me tell you all, you'll enjoy the other colorful pictures from my city, Jakarta!

Ten months living in Jakarta, we never have run out of place to be explored.
From museums to amuzement parks, from traditional markets to the glittering shopping centers. ...And we are still waiting to have a chance to visit our Presidential Palace (I hope our President reads my blog and would give us permission to visit his office, I promise to share pictures if it happens!)

Jakarta is also known as Betawi. The capital city of Indonesia, the dynamic city with thousands of problems; over populated, transportation problems, flooding that come every year, corruptions *can't mention in detail, and the latest one... the riot in Priok.

In the other hand, this city offers lots of opportunity... jobs/carrier, entertainment, colorful and dynamic life.

Originally, I'm not from Jakarta, and I didn't grow up in this city, didn't spend my school in this city. But I started my career as a fresh graduated in this city. That time I fell in love with the city for the first time. I was 'single' at that time, ... during weekends I spent my time to explore different corners of Jakarta using public transportations; bus or train. Exploring different kind of food, but (unfortunately) didn't take too much picture. I love the dynamic of this city, the fast beat!
Since I enjoy living in a big city, it's not hard to adapt with this crowded situation, so do my family...

This time, we decided to introduce more of this city and its culture to our children. Language barrier is their main problem at the beginning. But now, they learn more about Indonesian Language at school and feel more comfortable to interact with others.
It's not difficult to bring the children around Jakarta. I mean, it is save and lots of places are kid friendly, not all for sure (except if you're overprotectived, it'll be hard to find a save place that you need).

So far both of our chilren really enjoy to visit bazaars, exhibitions, museums, zoo and also markets :). I don't have to explain about shopping malls; as most of children love shopping centers, right ? Last semester, my daughter learned about Jakarta history in the school, so she got more information about this motropolitan city and made her excited to talk about some historical places.

So that's all, the short introduction about our life in Jakarta and just to let you know... we really enjoy our life here (except, the traffic jam of course !).

Here, you can find many kinds of food. From traditinal food to fancy international culinary. From healthy 'slow cooked' food to super fast food!
Traditional Indonesian food from almost every corners of this country can be found here, as well as food from other countries.

For now, let me introduce one of traditional 'soup' from Jakarta. We call it 'Soto Betawi' (~soup from Betawi/Jakarta). So, what is the special about this soup? It is the richness of its flavor. You can check the ingredients list... there are cinnamon (stick), cloves, coriander, cumin, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, nutmeg, plus garlic and shallots. The nice combination of herbs, spices, coconut milk, beef and tomato will produce the soup which has very deep of flavor.
Coconut is perhaps the most versatile of this soup, it harmonizes all the flavors.
That's not the end... you still need sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), lime juice, melinjo nut crackers (emping) and spicy sauce as the companion to serve the soup.

Soto Betawi
Source : Primarasa, Soto Nusantara.
Bahan :300 gr daging -- saya pakai 500 gr daging300 gr jeroan sapi (usus dan babat) --saya tidak pakai jeroan
2000 ml air untuk merebus
1/2 biji pala
3 butir cengkeh
5 cm kayu manis
4 lembar daun jeruk
2 sdt garam
1 sdm minyak goreng, untuk menumis
250 ml santan, dari 1/2 butir kelapa

Bumbu halus :4 cm jahe
8 butir bawang merah
3 siung bawang putih
1 sdt ketumbar sangrai
1/2 sdt merica
1/8 sdt jintan sangrai

Pelengkap :
250 gr tomat, potong-potong
3 batang daun bawang, iris halus
3 batang seledri, iris halus
3 sdt bawang goreng
kecap manis, air jeruk limau, emping goreng, dan sambal rawit.


1. Rebus daging (dan jeroan) hingga mendidih, tambahkan pala, cengkeh, kayu manis, daun jeruk, dan garam. Masak terus sampai daging (dan jeroan) lunak, angkat.
Angkat daging (dan jeroan) dari kaldu.
2. Ukur kaldu sebanyak 1500 ml. Bila kurang, tambahkan air panas. Potong-potong daging dan jeroan 2x2 cm, masukkan kembali ke dalam kaldu. Jerangkan di atas api.
3. Panaskan minyak goreng dalam wajan, tumis bumbu halus hingga harum, masukkan santan, aduk, angkat.
4. Masukkan santan berbumbu ke dalam panci kaldu. Timba-timba hingga mendidih dan matang. Angkat.
5. Penyajian: Siapkan mangkuk saji, masukkan daging (dan jeroan). Tambahkan tomat iris, daun bawang, seledri, dan bawang goreng.
Bubuhkan kecap manis dan air jeruk sesuai selera. Hidangkan dengan emping goreng dan sambal cabe rawit.
----English version recipe will be uploaded tonight -----