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Indonesian Spiced Beef and Lemon Grass Soup
This aromatic soup is our adaptation of the sop konro that home cook Nobita Budianti demonstrated for us in her kitchen in Jakarta, Indonesia. The blender does much of the heavy prep, pureeing many of the ingredients into a spice paste, called bumbu dasar kuning, that forms the flavor base. Makrut lime leaves and galangal offer distinctive, hard-to-mimic character. If unavailable, simply omit them. We like the soup garnished with fried shallots, but they are optional. Sambal oelek, a tangy chili condiment, is good for adding heat at the table, and steamed jasmine rice is a perfect accompaniment.
6
Servings
Tip
Don’t forget to partially cover the pot when simmering the beef shanks. This allows some evaporation for flavor concentration. Also, cook the beef at a low simmer, not a boil, to ensure the meat tenderizes and doesn’t toughen.
2½ hours
45 minutes active
Ingredients
-
2-2½
pounds bone-in beef shanks (about 1 inch thick)
-
3
stalks lemon grass, trimmed to the bottom 6 inches, dry outer leaves discarded, bruised
Directions
-
01In a large pot, combine the beef shanks, lemon grass, cloves, coriander seeds, white peppercorns, fennel seeds, nutmeg, 2 teaspoons salt and 2½ quarts water. Bring to a boil over medium-high, then reduce to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, until the beef is tender and beginning to fall off the bone, 1½ to 2 hours.
Reviews
April 28, 2026
Flavorful, Homey, and not at all Boring
I was excited to make this dish after a proper Asian market opened in my city. Finally, I was able to source ingredients such as lime leaves, curry leaves and galangal and I was eager to put this dish to the test. This is a deeply satisfying soup (I served over coconut rice) with an enticing, exotic flavor profile, the epitome of why I love Milk Street, your recipes are never boring. The only caveat for me is that the beef shanks did not yield much useable meat. There was a lot of fat and gristle which was a nuisance to trim. If I make this again, I'll use beef chuck instead. Other than that, fantastic! Brilliant with the crispy shallots and a dribble of sambal oelek.
June 21, 2026
Great, but wanted more
We cook a lot of Thai and Chinese cuisine in our home, having lived over in Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines. I've not got as much proficiency in Indonesian dishes, and this one stood out. We had every ingredient. I really liked it, but that comes with a few caveats. We ended up having to use an instant pot to pressure cook it for 20 minutes at the end, because after two hours of braising the beef shank pieces, it was still super super tough. The instant pot worked great. I found the finished soup needed more flavor. There was good lemongrass to it, and slight makrut lime (barely) but other than that, it was so mellow. We threw in a few teaspoons of fish sauce, a half a lime's worth of juice and a tablespoon of Thai chili crisp oil. Definitely better. We served ours with rice and I threw in a little napa cabbage. I think this soup is a gorgeous, mild finish, which is fine, but if you want more from it, you can dress it up a little. Sliced ginger on top was great.
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