Soto Ayam (Javanese Chicken Soup)

Soto or Javanese soup is so popular in Java that even in every place there has its own taste and way to serve it. For example in East Java, Soto Lamongan -named after the place near Surabaya, comes with tasty koya powder (it’s a mixture from dried shrimp and fried garlic). Meanwhile in Kudus, Central Java, they serve it with sliced fried garlic and this is really strong garlicky flavor. in Semarang not far from Kudus, Soto spiced with candle nut and often served with sate kerang (cockles on a stick). And in Jakarta, they call it Soto Betawi, it served in totally different way Soto made of beef or beef offal, cooked in a whitish cow milk or coconut milk broth, with fried potato and tomato.

There are two types of Soto based on the main ingredient: Soto Ayam (chicken Soto) and Soto Daging (beef Soto) although some places they also serve it with beef offal. Soto is not a standalone dish, it always served with rice or lontong (cooked rice in banana leave) and of course the spicy sambal.

The other typical thing in Soto, well this is actually common in almost every Javanese dishes is Kecap (sweet soybean sauce), its made of fermenting black soybean. Kecap also used in Nasi Gudeg.

The Recipe: Soto

Ingredients:

• 1/2 chicken with bones
• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 5 lime leaves, crushed
• 2 eggs, boiled and peeled
• 2 medium size potatoes, cut in small cubes and fried till browned
• 3 cm ginger root, bruised
• 2 cm turmeric root, bruised
• 2 cm galangal root, bruised
• 100 ml coconut milk
• 1 tbs coriander seeds
• 1 tbs cumin seeds
• 8 shallots, peeled and chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 6 candlenuts
• 1 cup beansprouts, blanched
• 70 g cabbage, sliced thinly and boiled
• 1 1/2 tbsp sweet soya sauce
• 2 tbsp chilli sauce

Preparation:

1. Cut a medium size chicken into 4 pieces, put it a pot together with ginger and lime leaves, add 2 liter of water, then boil it for 30 minutes. During the boiling process, remove the foam that coming from chicken.
2. Take chicken out of the pot as well as the ginger and lime leaves. Slice chicken into smaller pieces and remove the bones. Keep the heat down, leave it aside meanwhile we preparing the ingredients.
3. Blend all ingredients: garlic, turmeric, galangal, chili, coriander seeds and cumin seeds add some water to help the process.
4. Fry onions with lemongrass for one minute, then add blended ingredients and fry it for two minutes. Then pour the fried ingredients into the chicken stock pot, boiled the pot for three minutes.
5. Place all condiment ingredients in a bowl and pour the hot soup over.
6. Garnished with shallots, spring onions, lime juice and sweet soya sauce kecap.
7. Serve it with rice and sambal.