Soto Tangkar

Anita Jacobson’s Soto Tangkar is a Betawi beef-rib soup with coconut milk and a ground spice paste. Her version serves the tender ribs and broth with tomatoes, scallions, lime, melinjo crackers and sweet soy sauce.

Beef ribs boil in water while surface scum is removed. Shallots, garlic, selected red Anaheim chillies, candlenuts, fresh turmeric, salt, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and white peppercorns are ground into the paste.

Oil fries that paste with lime leaves, daun salam, bruised and knotted lemongrass, cinnamon and galangal. The fried mixture is transferred into the rib pot, which cooks covered at a simmer until the meat becomes tender.

Coconut milk is stirred into the soup near the end and brought to a boil. Salt is adjusted if needed before the heat is turned off and the soup is transferred to serving bowls.

Small tomato pieces, sliced scallions and lime wedges finish the serving, with melinjo crackers and sweet soy sauce alongside. The selected recipe combines a coconut-enriched broth with tender rib meat and these contrasting finishing additions.