Sup tulang — 'bone soup' — is a Malay-Bruneian spiced beef-bone broth, simmered until the marrow loosens and slips from the bone. Eaten with bread or rice, the rich marrow is the prize at the bottom.
Spoon up sup tulang — a clear, golden, aromatic broth with fall-apart tender beef clinging to the bones and rich marrow to suck out. Bite: deeply beefy and warming, the broth perfumed with lemongrass, ginger, cinnamon, and star anise, the fried shallots adding sweetness and the lime brightness. Restorative and comforting, eaten with bread to dunk — the Bruneian bone soup.
Blanching the bones cleans the broth; long, gentle simmering extracts collagen and marrow for a rich, clear soup. The spice paste and whole spices infuse aroma over hours, and fried shallots and lime at the end add a sweet-sharp finish.
Variations
With a tomato base (sup merah). Spicier. With more marrow bones. With macaroni (sup tulang campur). With mutton instead. Served with crusty bread.
On the Palate
Where Sup Tulang sits in the Bruneian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
8 steps · 30 min active + 2 hours waiting
- 110 min
Blanch 1.2 kg meaty beef bones and shin; rinse.
Watch outBlanch until the scum rises and foams, then dump that water — this first rinse is what buys you a clear broth later.
- 26 min
Pound shallots, garlic, and ginger into a paste; fry in oil until fragrant.
- 32 min
Add bruised lemongrass, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves; stir 1 min.
- 46 min
Add the bones and 2.5 L water; bring to a boil and skim.
- 5120 min
Simmer gently 2 hours until the meat is tender and the broth is rich.
Watch outKeep it at a lazy quiver, never a rolling boil — hard bubbles churn the fat back in and cloud the soup you just cleaned up.
- 620 min
Add 1 sliced carrot and potato in the last 20 min.
- 72 min
Season with salt and pepper.
- 83 min
Serve hot, topped with fried shallots, chopped chive, and a squeeze of lime.
Watch outAdd the lime and fried shallots only at the bowl — squeeze them in early and the bright, sweet-sharp lift cooks flat.
