To Soto... Sotoooooo Ayaaammm.... ^^

Hi everyone...
We meet again in "summer season". Yesterday and two days before the weather wasn't good. I was asking myself, are we actually in summer now? Why did I only feel cold and see the rain? Where was the sun? Was the sun just being embarrassed to shine? hehehehehe.. just kidding :p

So, I was thinking about making a warm dish. Hemm... Let me see, what about Soto Ayam (Chicken Soto)?  Chicken Soto is an Indonesian cuisine. It is a traditional food which consists of broth, meat and vegetables. For the meat, we can choose between chicken, beef or lamb.

But in this post, I want to talk about Chicken Soto. There are many names for Soto Ayam i.e. Soto Ayam Lamongan, Soto Ayam Banjar, Soto Ayam Medan, Soto Ayam Kudus, and etc. But why are there so many names for Soto Ayam in Indonesia? It is because each region in Indonesia has its own characteristic in its Soto Ayam. But still, they are using chicken for the meat.

We use turmeric to get the yellow colour in Soto Ayam. We can also choose to make a clear or a thick Soto Ayam. When coconut milk is used, by adding it to the broth, it makes the broth creamy and thicker. For choosing to make a clear or a thick soto ayam, it depends on your preference. Now let's start cooking Soto Ayam.

Serves: 4 portions

Soto Ayam

Ingredients:

• 600gr chicken
• 1,2lt water
• 2 scallions, cut into 1 cm length
• 2 lemongrass
• 3 kaffir lime leaves 
• salt to taste

Spice Paste:

• 6 cloves of garlic
• 3 candle nuts
• 2cm turmeric
• 1cm ginger
• 1tsp salt
• 1tsp pepper
• 1tbs fresh lime juice
• oil to fry

Spice Paste

Other ingredients:

• 100gr bean sprouts, cleaned, blanched and drained
• 100gr vermicelli / glass noddles, pre-soaked in another pot of boiling water and quickly transfer it into another bowl once it's cooked
• 100gr cabbages, thinly sliced
• 2 eggs, hard boiled
• 1 celery, thinly sliced
• 1tbs fried shallots 

Vermicelli

Complements:

• potato perkedel (perkedel kentang)
• 3 bird's eye chili, steamed then puree it
• 2 lime, cut into wedges
• sweet soy sauce

Method Of Cooking:

1. Wash the chicken and cook it in boiled water. Don't throw the water away.
2. Blend the spice paste ingredients in a food processor. Add some water if needed. (You can take the water from the first step). 
3. Heat up the pot with some oil and add the spice paste. Stir it and wait until the color turned a little bit brown. 
4. Add the water (from the first step), lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves into the pot then wait until it boiled. Afterwards, cook it on low heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt to taste.
5. While waiting for the chicken being cooked, you can prepare the other ingredients such as the vermicelli, cabbages, and others.
6. After that, take the chicken out from the soup and slice it thinly. Then put the sliced chicken back into the pot and garnish with scallion.
7. Finally, let's start eating the Chicken Soto with rice and the complements. BON APETITE.

Chicken Soto and the Complements

Optional :
Perkedel Kentang (potato perkedel)

Potato Perkedel

Ingredients:

• 5 cloves of garlic
• 3 shallots
• 1 egg
• pepper and salt to taste
• oil to fry

 Paste Ingredients

Method :

1. Peel, wash then slice the potato into 1 cm thick.



Sliced potato

2. Heat up the pan, add some oil, then wait until the oil is hot. Add the sliced potato into the oil and wait until  it's cooked.



Fried sliced potato

3. Smash the fried potato.



Smashed potato

4. Add celery into the smashed potato. Mix them well.
5. Make the mixture into a round shape.
6. Dip the round shaped mixtures into the beaten egg then start frying them.
7. Keep frying them until they turned a little bit brown. Then you can start eating your Perkedel Potato :p