Semur is an Indonesian meat stew (mainly

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

) braised in thick brown

gravy Gravy is a sauce often made from the juices of meats that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with wheat flour or corn starch for added texture. The gravy may be further coloured and flavoured with gravy salt (a simple mix of salt ...

. It is commonly found in Indonesian cuisine. The main ingredients in the gravy are sweet soy sauce,

shallot The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with '' Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...

s, garlic, ginger,

candlenut ''Aleurites moluccanus'', the candlenut, is a flowering tree in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, also known as candleberry, Indian walnut, ''kemiri'', varnish tree, ''nuez de la India'', ''buah keras'', ''godou'', kukui nut tree, and ''rata k ...

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...

, and cloves (and sometimes with

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in dia ...

, coriander, cumin, and cinnamon). Sweet soy sauce is the most important ingredient in the ''semur''-making process because it serves to strengthen the flavor, but it should still be blended harmoniously with the other ingredients. In addition to the spices and seasonings, ''semur'' also consists of a wide range of main ingredients with variation in the presentation, such as meat (mainly

beef tongue Beef tongue (also known as neat's tongue or ox tongue) is a cut of beef made of the tongue of a cow. It can be boiled, pickled, roasted or braised in sauce. It is found in many national cuisines, and is used for taco fillings in Mexico and for ...

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super f ...

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

tempeh Tempeh or tempe (; jv, ꦠꦺꦩ꧀ꦥꦺ, témpé, ) is a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. A fungus, '' Rhiz ...

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

, fish and often sprinkled with

fried shallots Bawang goreng is an Indonesian crispy fried shallots condiment, a popular garnish to be sprinkled upon various dishes of Indonesian cuisine. It is quite similar to crisp fried onion. Ingredients Compared to onion, shallots are much smaller i ...

or other variations according to the tastes of the communities in each regions.

Etymology

''Semur'' is derived from the Dutch verb ''"smoren"'', which means "to

braise Braising (from the French word ''braiser'') is a combination-cooking method that uses both wet and dry heats: typically, the food is first browned at a high temperature, then simmered in a covered pot in cooking liquid (such as wine, broth, coco ...

food".

History and origins

History shows that the dish of marinated boiled meat in Indonesia has been known since the 9th century CE in ancient Java. This can be seen from some of the inscriptions, and reliefs of the temples in Java that tells ''"Ganan, hadanan prana wdus"'' or "buffaloes and goats served with vegetables". However, whether the buffalo and goat meat mentioned in these records was the same dishes like stews today is still uncertain. For centuries, Indonesia has attracted world traders for its natural resources. Exotic flavors of Indonesian

spices A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices are ...

such as

, cloves and cinnamon have attracted traders. Foreign traders and immigrants brought their culture, which gradually blended into everyday Indonesian culture. This assimilation has developed a blend of traditions of the archipelago, including culinary. The European Dutch colonial believed to have brought the stew technique, and combine it with local spices and local sweet soy sauce, dark soy sauce with caramelized palm sugar and various spiced added, that has become one of the most popular flavouring. The particular flavor of Indonesian spices combined with a variety of foreign food processing techniques has resulted in the creation of unique dishes such as ''semur'', which existed from 1600. Centuries of interactions between the Netherlands and Indonesia have contributed to the development of the stew's flavor. Javanese stew that in the earlier served as the main menu in the banquet of the Dutch is derived from the word ''smoor'' (Dutch: "stew"). ''Smoor'' in Dutch means food that has simmered with tomatoes and onions in a long cook process. One of the oldest and most cookbook recipes complete document in the Dutch East Indies, ''Groot Nieuw Oost-Indisch Volledig Kookboek'' published in 1902, contains six recipes stew (''Smoor Ajam I'', ''Ajam Smoor II'', ''Smoor Ajam III'', ''Smoor Bandjar van Kip'', ''Smoor Bantam van Kip'', ''Solosche Smoor van Kip''). This book asserts that the later smoor stew was the kitchen cooking method developed in Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) by the

Eurasian Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Ja ...

. Over time, ''semur'' was incorporated into Indonesian tradition and served in a variety of traditional events. Javanese with their preference on sweet dishes has favoured ''semur'' and consider it as part of

Javanese cuisine Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of Javanese people, a major ethnic group in Indonesia, more precisely the province of Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java. Definition Javanese cuisine refers exclusively to the cuisine of Javanese people, ...

Betawi people Betawi may refer to: * Betawi people * Betawi language * Betawi cuisine *Betawi mask dance See also * Batavia (disambiguation) * Batavi (disambiguation) Batavi may refer to: *Batavi (Germanic tribe) **Revolt of the Batavi *Batavi (military unit) * ...

in Jakarta have adopted ''semur'' as part of their tradition that is always served during ''

Lebaran is the popular name for two Islamic official holidays, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha in Indonesia, and is one of the major national holidays in the country. holiday officially lasts for two days in the Indonesian calendar, although the governme ...

'', weddings, and any important celebrations. Betawi people like to cook dogfruit with spices and soy sauce to make ''semur jengkol'' ( dogfruit stew). Not only Betawi culture, semur are also often appeared on the celebration events in various parts of the archipelago such as Kalimantan and Sumatra, with the flavor and appearance that suit local tastes. At first, ''semur'' was associated to the beef that is processed in thick brown gravy. However it was later developed into various ingredients and recipes; ox tongue, mutton, chicken, eggs, also for vegetable products, such as tofu, tempeh, eggplant, and others. ''Semur'' has become a daily dishes served in Indonesian households and can be found in various parts of Indonesia. ''Semur'' might be served individually with rice, ''lontong'', or as part of the whole complete meal of ''

rijsttafel ( , ), a Dutch word that literally translates to "rice table", is an Indonesian elaborate meal adapted by the Dutch following the ''hidang'' presentation of ''nasi padang'' from the Padang region of West Sumatra. It consists of many (forty is ...

'',

buffet A buffet can be either a sideboard (a flat-topped piece of furniture with cupboards and drawers, used for storing crockery, glasses, and table linen) or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve ...

or as one of side dishes in ''

tumpeng Tumpeng ( Javanese: ; Balinese: ) is an Indonesian cone-shaped rice dish with side dishes of vegetables and meat originating from Javanese cuisine of Indonesia. Traditionally featured in the '' slamatan'' ceremony, the rice is made by using a ...

'', '' nasi uduk'' or '' nasi rames''.

Varieties of semur

*''Semur daging'' or ''semur jawa'': beef and potato ''semur'', the most common type of ''semur'' commonly found in Java *''Semur betawi'': ''semur'' of

in Jakarta, usually consist of beef, potato, and eggs with slightly different spices *''Semur ayam'': chicken ''semur'' commonly found in Java *''Semur jengkol'': '' jengkol'' stinky-bean semur popular in Jakarta and West Java *''Semur manado'': ''semur'' from

Manado Manado () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of North Sulawesi. It is the second largest city in Sulawesi after Makassar, with the 2020 Census giving a population of 451,916 distributed over a land area of 162.53 km2.Badan Pusa ...

North Sulawesi North Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the Minahasa Peninsula of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia. It borders the Philippine province of Davao Occidental and Socc ...

*''Semur banjar'': ''semur'' from

Banjarmasin ) , translit_lang1 = Other , translit_lang1_type1 = Jawi , translit_lang1_info1 = بنجر ماسين , settlement_type = City , motto = ''Kayuh Baimbai'' ( Banjare ...

South Kalimantan *''Semur lidah'':

''semur'' *''Semur aceh'': Aceh beef ''semur'' *''Semur goreng samarinda'': fried ''semur'' from Samarinda *''Semur ikan purwokerto'': fish ''semur'' from Purwokerto *''Semur ternate'': ''semur'' from

Ternate Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the ...

vinegar added *''Semur kelapa'': coconut ''semur'' from Maluku *''Semur terong tahu'': eggplant and tofu ''semur'' from

West Java West Java ( id, Jawa Barat, su, ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪, romanized ''Jawa Kulon'') is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten ...

References

{{Indonesian cuisine Indonesian stews Beef dishes Indonesian beef dishes