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Recently, Rawon has been labeled as the most delicious soup in Asia by TasteAtlas.  TasteAtlas is a culinary site from Croatia that reviews various kinds of foods around the world.  Rawon attracts a wide attention because it tastes delicious and it is processed with a variety of herbs and spices. Apart from Rawon, there is also ‘Sayur Asem’ which is also included in the TasteAtlas version of the best soup list. The dish is in the 12^th position. Today’s edition of Indonesian Wonder lets you know Sayur Asem Culinary.

Sayur Asem is a typical Indonesian vegetable dish. Generally,  Sayur Asem uses peanuts, young jackfruit, melinjo, vegetables, star-fruit, chayote, long beans, and tamarind. Corn is also often added for the dish. Each region across Indonesia has also other additions for Sayur Asem.   There are many local variations of Sayur Asem such as Sayur Asem Jakarta or Sayur Asem Betawi, Sayur Asem kangkung (a variation using kale), and salted fish Sayur Asem.  There is Sayur Asem of Sumatra which has more and oily sauce. There is also Sayur Sunti of Aceh. Then, there is the East Javanese style of Sayur Asem which is known to have a spicy taste; while Sayur Asem from West Java region tends to have less vegetables and its prominent characteristic uses peeled peanuts.

Sayur Asam has a philosophy which describes diversity. This can be seen from the various contents of the vegetables. There are long beans, sweet corn, pumpkin, peanuts, melinjo, eggplant, jackfruit, sweet corn, melinjo leaves. Even though there are a lot of vegetables used, it can give a special taste. The flavors that are created are savory and sour. In addition, tamarind vegetables also remind you not to be careless and patient. And this simple menu is often reminiscent of home and family. The way to enjoy Sayur Asem is also various.  In West Java and Jakarta, the people usually enjoy Sayur Asem in a bowl.It is separated with cooked rice. But in East Java, they prefer to mix Sayur Asem, cooked rice and side dishes.