The dishes that receive spotlight as "diversity" food are usually Nasi Goreng and Soto. In this newsletter, I write about the many faces (and names) of Sayur Asam and the origin of its sour flavor.
This is the monthly edition of Dapur Saraswati — a newsletter from Prinka Saraswati, which you can read about here. If you like it and want more like it in your inbox, consider subscribing. Read last month’s newsletter here. For the recipe of Jangan Asem (Sayur Asem, East Java style) check Instagram .Also available is the recipe of Dadar Jagung (tender corn fritters, East Java Style) on this link.
The so-called “root” of Sayur Asam is the gentle sour flavour that becomes the white canvas of the soup. Each area in Indonesia has its own interpretation of Sayur Asam. Every element counts. From the certain sour agent that they use, the amount and types of vegetables they put, the color of the soup, and even whether to mash the shallots, garlic, and chilies or just to cut them. I’ve tasted Sayur Asam in different area; Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Tuban, Surabaya, Madiun, Gresik, and Samarinda. In each experience, I’ve seen various vegetables, tasted different kinds of sourness, and heard many opinions about it. All in all, Sayur Asam is a lyrical soup of assorted Indonesian agricultural produce. Corn, chopped into big chunks; squash, boiled until its flesh softened; snake beans with its slight crunchiness; white cabbage, cut widely like elephant ears. All vegetables are in harmony with the white canvas that is a sour broth. Sayur Asam is an orchestra of texture played beautifully in the neighborhood streets.
Illustrated here is Sayur Asam, with green onions, in Malang Style - by Diedra Cavina. Check her works here .
Almost everywhere in Indonesia, where Sayur Asam is eaten, as the main course, a staple, and an inheritance, people have names for this refreshing soup; among them Sayur Asam, Sayur Asem, Jangan Asem, Gangan Asem, Sayur Asam Sunti, Sayur Asem Mlanding, and Gule Rampoe. The various names of this dish derive from its sour flavour and the word for broth in the local languages. The word for broth or Kuah in Indonesian is translated to Javanese as Jangan, to some Dayak languages as Gangan, Kella to Maduranese, Bawean, and Pantura - while some ethnic groups like Betawi, Sunda, and all the ethnic groups in Sumatra, would refer to Sayur or Gule/Gulai (vegetables) as they put many kinds of vegetables in the soup compared to others.
With its many names and similar looks to each other, each area has its own version of this sour delicacy. But its diversity is yet to be discussed, unlike Soto and Nasi Goreng that have been in the culinary discourse since forever. Sayur Asam is said to be originally made by the ethnic group Betawi in Sunda Kelapa or today’s Jakarta. The story of Sayur Asam went further back to the time when today’s Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch.
The Betawi people are generally considered a new ethnic group, related to the development of colonial Batavia; their existence can be traced further back. One epigraph from the Tarumanagara Kingdom reveals that the area of Jakarta has been inhabited since the fifth century. Early settlers in Sunda Kelapa or Batavia spoke Malay and Sundanese, but their origins are still a matter of debate. Known as Sunda Kelapa, the area was initially controlled by the Pajajaran (Sundanese Hindu) Kingdom. However, when the Islamic Javanese ruler Fatahilla defeated the Portuguese in 1527, Sunda Kelapa's name was changed to Jayakarta. On March 4, 1621, VOC changed the name Jayakarta to Batavia, based on the ethnicity settling by the Rhein River, said to be the ancestors of the Dutch and German. During the Dutch colonial time, Van de Bosch introduced Cultuurstelsel, a revenue system that forced farmers to pay revenue to the treasury of the Netherlands in the form of export crops or labor. This corrupt and disruptive system reaped all the local harvest in Java, including Batavia, leaving the locals with whatever was left to feed themselves.
Ari Parikesit said that one of the few things left to eat were chilies, Asam Kandis (dried yellow mangosteen), and Asam Jawa (Tamarind), including local vegetables, that did not get exported. These vegetables like Kacang Panjang (snake/long beans), Labu Siam (chayote), corns, melinjo leaves and seeds, green jackfruit, and peanuts were boiled in a soup that’s humbly seasoned with chilies and a sour agent from Asam Kandis or Asam Jawa. So while Sayur Asam may now be beloved by many, it’s also a reminder of how much effort that it has taken to keep ourselves alive - to save ourselves from hunger.
Back then, what assuaged the people in Batavia from hunger was not just simply Sayur Asam. But also the abundance of Asam trees lining the sides of the road as the perfect canopy from the blazing sun. Asam means three things in Indonesian and Malay/Melayu.
Asam: an adjective to identify the sour taste.
Asam: a noun to identify a fruit that produces sour taste.
Asam: an adjective to say that an event turns bad.
The word Asam can be traced back to India, where tamarind has grown abundantly after the Arabs and Ethiopians brought them from Central Africa and Madagascar throughout the coast of the Persian Gulf to the Bay of Bengal. Tamarind is called Imli in Hindi and it grows lavishly in the southern part of India where the sun is warmer and the soil is balmy. They say that you can tell the difference between the cooking of the south and north India as they use lemon and tomato in the North and tamarind in the South. So, how did it end up being named after a place where they rarely use tamarind in their cooking?
There was no literature written about it yet. But I think it’s worth mentioning that during the spice trade, the main port in India to East and Southeast Asia was in Pragjyotisha, the city of Eastern Lights. This glowing city was the hub to connect to Bangladesh and the eastern part of Asia. Today, this city is called Guwahati, located on the south bank of the Brahmaputra Valley in Asam. The Arabian and Ethiopian traders presumably carried tamarind trees from India through Southeast Asia all the way to the Eastern Pacific, Melanesia, and Polynesia.
As the tree loves the tropical warmth and sourness is a part of the flavors in Indonesia, it’s not hard to imagine how people started to fall in love with this fruit. According to Murdijati Gardjito in Bumbu, Penyedap, dan Penyerta Masakan Indonesia, there are four essential flavors in Indonesian cuisine: Asin (salty), Manis, (Sweet), Pahit (bitter), and Asam (Sour). Asam is usually found in Acar (pickles), Asinan (salty pickles), fish or chicken soup like Garang Asem, Kesrut, and Gangan Asam, and even in drinks like Sinom (jamu made of young tamarind leaves). Indonesians have found many ways to use tamarind in cooking. From selai (jam), jamu (local elixir), manisan asam (candied tamarind), to incorporating its flavor in soup. Sayur Asam is one of the soups that puts sourness as the star of the show.
From Aceh, the tip of Sumatra; the southern part of Kalimantan; to the far west of Java, Banyuwangi, various ethnic groups have incorporated the element of sour into their own interpretation of Sayur Asem. Every bowl of Sayur Asam is made with the local sour fruit available in each area. In Aceh, they use Belimbing Wuluh (Averrhoa Bilimbi) and the sundried version of this fruit, Asam Sunti. There are two interpretations of Sayur Asam in Aceh, one with the clear soup and one with the opaque cream color called Gule Rampoe that looks similar to Lodeh. People of Aceh also add green papaya, pumpkin, and green jackfruit; and the rest of the default vegetables in Sayur Asam. Moving to Medan, their Sayur Asam uses Kincung (torch ginger) or Asam Gelugur as the sour agent. Their Sayur Asam is bright, full of colors from all the harvest put in a bowl of soup. While in Bangka and Palembang, these coastal island people, add Kemplang, crackers made of Tenggiri, a type of mackerel fish, to their Sayur Asam. When boiled, Kemplang blooms into this fluffy fish cake - not soggy, like what you’d expect if you put crackers in a pot of water.
Left: Asam Sunti. Right: Belimbing Wuluh
The original Sayur Asam in Sunda and Betawi used either Asam Kandis or Asam Jawa. Both fruits are abundant there. Many Indonesian caterers who open up business abroad are from these two areas. They serve Sayur Asam in Sundanese or Betawi style, with plenty of vegetables, from corn, cabbage, snake beans, chayote, peanuts, melinjo leaves and seeds. The two latter ingredients are hard to find outside Indonesia. However, their Sayur Asam maintains the same delicacy. Two out of many caterers who serve Sayur Asam in this style are Mamikaand Spoons. Though far, their Sayur Asam is rooted in the same initial beauty; opaque sunset colors, bursting like bright yet foggy dusk with all the vivid colors you could imagine. Yellow, red, green in all shades. Sayur Asam of Sunda and Betawi share a similarity like their Sumatran folks. Sayur Asam is a harvest festival in a bowl.
Top to bottom: Asam Jawa, Kincung/Kecombrang, Asam Kandis, and Rimbang.
While people of Sumatra and the west part of Java (Sunda and Betawi) see their Sayur Asam as a festival. The folks in Pantura (northern coast of Java), East Java, and Madura, see their Sayur Asam as a heat quencher. It’s functional and practical. They don’t make a big deal about mashing the bumbu; shallots, garlic, and chilies into a paste. They only add snake beans, corn, Krai cucumber, sometimes Klentang (moringa fruit), and sprouts of mung bean or black-eyed peas. Sayur Asam here also uses Asam Jawa or tamarind as the sour agent. Instead of an opaque sunset sky, Sayur Asam in Jawa Timur is like a pristine river in your grandmother’s village. In this part of Java, Sayur Asam comes with many names - Jangan Asem in most East Java and Pantura; Kella Celok in Madura, Bawean, and Pantura; Kesrut in Banyuwangi. With the exception of Kesrut and Kella Celok where they sometimes add chicken or fish to this sour soup. The idea of a sour soup, with proteins added to it, is also embraced by the people of South and East Kalimantan. Rivers run long and deep there, with Ikan Patin (Basa fish) swimming inside. This delicate fish that has silky fat is added to their soup, Gangan Asam - a soup that uses Rimbang, a type of Dayak eggplant that tastes sour.
From merely a soup with sourness as a show-stopper, Sayur Asam has camouflaged into two general interpretations. When it is called Sayur Asam, with the root in Malay language, you’ll see a harvest festival in a bowl of soup. I guess it's because Sayur literally means vegetable. But, when it is called Jangan, Gangan, or Kella, you’ll see a pond of water with a few strings of vegetables here and there. Maybe, it’s because Jangan, Gangan, and Kella simply means kuah or in English, broth. To these people, they see this soup as a broth where they add some vegetables or fish. “I like Jangan Asem, the East Java style, better than the Betawi or Jakarta version. I feel like all the vegetables are just overwhelming.”, said Nissa, from Nganjuk, East Java. Though for some other East Javanese, they like the Jakarta version better. “Sayur Asem tastes better with peanuts! I always asked my mother to add some peanuts.”, confessed Diedra, a Malang local,who resides in Jakarta.
Whether you see it as a vegetable soup or broth with vegetables, Sayur Asam is the green goddess in Indonesian cuisine. If you go to a warung, where they lay 20 plates of side-dish for you to choose, there’s always enough room to save for a bowl of Sayur Asam. You know you’ve been eyeing the big pot at the corner of the warung. Or maybe you were thinking of ordering Opor Ayam, that delicate chicken drenched in yellow silky coconut milk, but then you started to reconsider. Sometimes, a plate of warm rice, fluffy corn fritters, the salty goodness of Ikan Asin, and the refreshing bowl of Sayur Asam is all you need.
Jangan Asem (Sayur Asem, East Java style) recipe is available on Instagram . Last year, I didn’t know that Jangan means “broth”, so that’s a mistake that I translated it as “Sayur” in the post of Jangan Asem.
