Soto Tangkar — Jakarta, Indonesia

Soto tangkar is a beef soup from the Betawi community of Jakarta named after tangkar, a local word for beef ribs. Ribs and their attached scraps of meat are simmered until the meat loosens from the bone in a broth colored deep yellow by turmeric and enriched with coconut milk. It is reported from Jakarta, particularly among Betawi households and stalls, and grew out of a period when whole cuts of beef were costly and rib off-cuts were the affordable choice, though the soup is now sought out for its own flavor rather than for economy. Beef ribs are boiled first to render a base stock, then a ground paste of shallots, garlic, turmeric, galangal, candlenut and chili is fried and added to the pot along with coconut milk, lemongrass and lime leaf, and the whole simmers until the ribs are tender and the broth turns thick and fragrant. The coconut milk sets it apart from many other Jakarta sotos that use a clear or lightly turmeric-tinted stock without it, giving soto tangkar a richer, fattier broth closer to a curry; it is ladled over rice or rice cakes and finished with fried shallots and a squeeze of lime.