Bubur ase — Jakarta, Indonesia

Bubur ase is a savory rice porridge served in Jakarta, associated with the Betawi community that has long inhabited the city and its surroundings. The porridge itself is cooked plain, without turmeric or coconut milk, so that its role is to carry the toppings rather than to carry flavor on its own. It is documented in Jakarta, where it is served from carts and small stalls, often early in the morning or in the evening during Ramadan, when warm porridge is valued for its easy digestion. Betawi food culture, shaped by Malay, Chinese, Arab and Sundanese influences that met in the old port city, produced a number of these composite rice dishes, of which bubur ase is one example. Preparation starts with plain white rice porridge, simmered slowly with water until the grains break down into a smooth mass. Separately, beef is braised for a long time in sweet soy sauce, shallots, garlic and spices until it turns dark and tender, in a style called semur that is common across Betawi cooking. The porridge is ladled into a bowl and topped with the semur beef and its sauce, a handful of blanched bean sprouts, fried shallots, and a spoonful of spicy ground peanut and chili sauce. What sets this version apart from other Indonesian rice porridges is the pairing of a neutral base with a distinctly sweet-savory beef topping and a peanut-chili sauce, rather than the coconut-milk or turmeric porridges found elsewhere in the archipelago. The balance between the mild porridge and the concentrated semur sauce is what cooks in Jakarta are said to watch most closely.