Jukut ares is a Balinese soup built on ares — the tender inner core of the banana stem — simmered in a chicken or duck stock seasoned with base genep. Jukut means vegetable and ares the young stem heart, sliced thin, salted to soften, then cooked until silky in the spiced broth. A ceremonial dish served at weddings and temple gatherings, it is mild, savoury and quietly unusual, the banana stem giving a faintly fibrous, almost meaty bite that nothing else quite matches.
Jukut ares is rooted in Balinese village and temple life, where it appears at weddings, cremations and religious gatherings and is read as a dish of humility — making good food from the heart of a banana plant that would otherwise be discarded. Like much of the island's ceremonial cooking it rests on base genep and a rich poultry or pork stock. It is a traditional communal dish rather than one with a single dated origin, its place fixed by ritual use more than by any record of invention.
The banana stem cooks down to soft, translucent rings with a gentle fibrous chew, somewhere between bamboo shoot and a tender vegetable, soaking up the broth like a sponge. The soup itself is warming and savoury, fragrant with galangal, lemongrass and bay, with bone-rich depth from the stock and a faint sweetness; chunks of chicken, duck or pork ribs sit alongside. It is comforting and subtle rather than fiery.
The key step is taming the raw banana stem. Sliced thin, it is salted and massaged, then often soaked, which draws out astringent sap and breaks down its tough fibres so it turns tender instead of stringy in the pot. The base genep is fried first to bloom its aromatics, then the stem and meat are simmered slowly in stock so the stem softens fully and absorbs flavour while the bones give up gelatine and depth. Long, gentle simmering is what melds the spice paste, stock and stem into one mellow soup.
Variations
Stock and meat vary by occasion — chicken, duck, or pork ribs are common, and some versions enrich the broth with a little coconut milk. Different regions adjust the spice paste's heat, and at strictly meat-free ceremonies the dish is made with a vegetable-only broth, letting the banana stem stand on its own.
On the Palate
Where Jukut Ares sits in the Indonesian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
8 steps · 35 min active + 35 min waiting
- 112 min
Peel the banana stem down to the tender pale core and slice it thinly into rings.
- 220 min
Salt and massage the slices, then soak briefly to draw out sap and soften the fibres; rinse and drain.
Watch outSalt, massage and soak the banana-stem slices to draw out the astringent sap — skip it and they stay tough and stringy in the pot.
- 312 min
Pound shallots, garlic, chili, candlenut, galangal, turmeric and shrimp paste into base genep.
- 48 min
Fry the paste in oil until fragrant and darkened.
Watch outFry the spice paste until it darkens and smells fragrant before the liquid goes in — that's what gives the soup its mellow depth.
- 56 min
Add chicken, duck or pork ribs and brown lightly in the paste.
- 65 min
Pour in stock with lemongrass and bay leaf and bring to a gentle simmer.
- 735 min
Add the banana-stem slices and simmer slowly until both the stem and meat are tender.
- 83 min
Adjust seasoning and serve hot with rice.
