Resep Sayur Besan khas Betawi, a Jakarta’s Herritage Sugar Cane Blossom Curry

Sayur Besan: Pusakan Kuliner Nusantara!

Sayur besan is a special Jakarta’s Betawi descent traditional sugar cane blossom (terubuk) curry stew. Sayur besan literrary derived from the betawi langguage sayur for vegetables and besan that means in-law. This is a part of the tradition in Betawi descent wedding ceremony; the sayur besan is usually served by female-bride to welcomed the male-bride family. Sayur besan is usually paired with Gabus Pucung, a spicy snakehead fish stew.

Sayur Besan (Terubuk) Khas Betawi

Sayur besan is basically contains four major ingredient; terubuk (sugar cane blossom), petai or pete (Parkia speciosa,stink bean), potato and bihun (glass vermicelly). Other commond ingredients is stringbean, carrot and  chayote. Sayur besan is usually cotains some grounded ebi or dried shrimp  that made the broth gotsavoury taste. The yellowish color coconut curry comes from the spice paste that contains turmeric.

Duruka Curry, Sugar Cane Blosson in Rich Coconut Curry (Sayur Besan)

Sayur besan is rarely seen nowdays, despite the rare ingredients; terubuk,  some of the betawi descent even did’t know about the dish. Based on Detik Food, you  can find the terubuk on Cikini traditional market, Central Jakarta. Terubuk is a kinda pricey vegetables in Jakarta, i was rather shock when i foraging on on that traditional market because it cost about 1 USD for a single terubuk.   Fortunately, i can find this ethnic vegetable that i used in this post in my home town, Muara Dua,  a small distric that need 7 hours drives from Palembang. This cost me for about 1.5 US$ for 3 bundles that contains 5 medium size terubuk for each bundle. Terubuk is rather seasonal vegetable, you can find easily in rainy season becausethe plant got blossoming at that time.

The Terubuk or sugar cane blossom (Saccharum edule haskarl) got many names across Indonesian archipelago, it’s called Terubuk, Telor Tebu,Telok Tebu, Endog, Tiwu Endog, Kelobot or Terubus. Other common names  include Duruka, Fiji Asparagus, Dule (Fiji), Pitpit (Melanesia) and Naviso. Terubuk got a fish egg or roe like texture, that’s why this is called Telor Tebu or sugar cane egg (roe) in Indonesia, besides the appearance of terubuk is lso like a sack of fish eggs.

Terubuk, Telur Tebu,, Endog, Tiwu Endog, Kelobot , Terubus, Telok Tebu

Resep Sayur Besan Terubuk Khas Betawi:

Ingredients:

• 12 medium size terubuk, telor tebu or duruka ( sugar cane blossom), cut into pieces
• 100 gr potato (kentang), i use baby potato
• 30 gr stink bean (petai or pete)
• 50 gr glass vermicelly (bihun), cook according to the package instruction, set aside
• 2 cups coconut oil (santan)
• 3 cloves garlic (bawang putih), thinly slice
• 1  lemongrass (sereh), bruised
• 1 kaffir lime leaves (daun jeruk purut)
• 2 Indonesian bay leaves (daun salam)
• 3 cm galagal (laos) , bruised
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 small tomato,diced
• 2 L  water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon deep fried shallots (bawang goreng) for garnish

Sayur Besan Spices Paste:

• 8 shallots (bawang merah)
• 6 cloves garlic (bawang putih)
• 6 or more red chillies (cabe merah)
• 1 tbsp toasted dried shrimp (ebi sangrai)
• 1 tsp corriander seed (ketumbar), toasted
• 4 candle nuts (kemiri), toasted
• 3 cm ginger (jahe)
• 3 cm turmeric (kunyit)

Instruction :

• Heat up 2 tbsp oil in a wok pan, saute the sliced garlic,  galagal and lemongrass until fragrant and slightly browned
• Put the spice paste and continue to saute another 2 minutes, add the kaffir lime and bay leaves.
• Pour the water and the coconut milk, bring to boil, season with salt and sugar, adjust the taste
• Add the baby tomato and stink bean , simmer for about 10 minutes
• Add the terubuk or sugar cane blossom, let it simmer for another 5 minutes
• Nearly done, add the diced tomato
• Serve sayur besan with glass vermicelli and deep fried shallot

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