Indonesia – Rabeg

by Fauzan Anandika

The culinary tour has always become a must-do activity, especially when visiting a tourism place. Culinary itself become a reason for foreign and domestic tourist to visit a region. Each region has its unique culinary to distinguish them from other regions. When visiting the Banten province of Indonesia, don’t forget to taste the iconic dish called Rabeg.

Rabeg is a curry type food using young goat for its meat. A mix between sweet-savory curry and fresh lemongrass with lime leaves soak perfectly in goat meat and liver. Rabeg’s rich taste comes from various traditional spices like nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon. Its meat also juicy and tender completing this delicious dish. Besides its delicious taste, Rabeg also has a great story behind it. Rabeg was a special dish for The Sultan from Banten Sultanate.

Rabeg History

There are many versions of how Rabeg was founded. One of them is when Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin, King of Banten, doing Hajj. At that time, he passed through a town near the Red Sea, that town is Rabig. The Sultan was so impressed by the beautiful view of Rabig town. He decided to stay for a while at Rabig. There The Sultan eat a very delicious dish made from a young goat, and he loved it. Memory in the Rabiq town inspires The Sultan to make the same dish. He orders the royal chef to cook that authentic dish. Unfortunately, nobody knows how to cook it, but that genius chef tries to figure it out and cook the dish. The Sultan was pleased by the dish he eats, and Rabeg to become a special dish in the Banten kingdom.

For those who want to make Rabeg at home, the process is a little bit complex but still easy to follow. Let’s try to cook some Rabeg curry.

Protein Ingredient

• 200-gram goat gut
• 350-gram goat meat
• 150-gram goat liver
• 4 cm ginger, peel, and bruise
• 2 lemongrasses, use only the white part, bruised
• 4 lime leaves

Spice Ingredient

• 1 litter of water for boiling
• 6 shallots, thin sliced
• 2 cm ginger, thin sliced
• 1 red tomato cut into pieces
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon white pepper powder
• 6 clove
• 4 cm cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg powder
• 600 ml of water
• 3 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 scallion, cut into two parts
• ¼ teaspoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil for sauteing

Protein preparation

1. Wash clean all the protein ingredients.
2. Braid the goat gut.
3. Cut goat meat into a dice shape.
4. Cut goat liver into dice shape.
5. Boil all the protein with ginger, lemongrass, and lime leaves
6. Remove and drain

How to cook

1. Heat cooking oil, stir fry shallot, and ginger until smell good. 
2. Add all the boiled goat, stir slowly until finely mixed.
3. Add tomato, salt, white pepper, clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg powder. Stir again until well mixed.
4. Add water, cook with small fire until the spice is soaked. 
5. Add soy sauce, scallion, and vinegar.
6. Adjust the taste.
7. Serve when the meat tenders enough.
8. Happy eating.