SOTO AYAM | SPICED INDONESIAN CHICKEN SOUP

Soto Ayam is a chicken soup with a flavorful Indonesian twist! One of the favorite Indonesian food, it is perfect for the fall weather. It's easy to make, but the ingredients are quiet elaborate. However, it will be worth all your effort! 

Fall is my favorite time of the year. My favorite weather month is October! I love the mood, colors of the leaves, the change in temperature. I prefer colder temperature. However, the start of the fall weather hasn't been great here in The Netherlands. There have been quite a lot of wind together with rain which makes it cold and wet everywhere. A few days ago I was cycling home against the wind and rain. When I got home I only wanted to eat some hot chicken soup with rice. So the next day I went to the Asian supermarket to buy all the ingredients I need for Soto Ayam. 

I can't believe how seldom I make this soup considering how incredibly delicious it is! I think it's because to serve this soup it's quite an elaborate process. As I'm typing the recipes below, I just realized how much ingredients and toppings that are in it! And personally, it's actually a bit expensive to make this soup because the special spices I have to get from the Asian supermarket. If you live around Asia, with the bountiful of spice ingredients you should be making this soup every week!

But please, my friendly cooks who live in the west! Try to make this soup! It's sooo good and flavorful! Soto ayam (= chicken soto) is a chicken based soup broth. What's special here is the bit of tanginess from all the citrussy ingredients. The spices really enhance the chicken broth, not to mention the fun yellow-greenish color from the turmeric! Topping it with some tomatoes gives it some bite of freshness in the midst of this densely spiced broth. And an extra sprinkle of the lime juice really ties all the flavor together!

Resep Soto Ayam | Spiced Indonesian Chicken Soup Recipe: 

Serves 4 people (90 minutes)

Tools

• Food processor
• 1 large soup pan
• 1 small soup pan
• 1 non-stick pan

Ingredients

• Large soup pan:
• 2 liters cold water
• 700 gr chicken carcass (see notes)
• 250 gr chicken breast
• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• 3 bay leaves (daun salam)
• 10 gr salt
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• Food processor:
• 10 gr turmeric (kunyit)
• 10 gr ginger (jahe)
• 15 gr galangal (lengkuas/laos)
• 5 candlenuts (kemiri)
• 2 large shallots
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon sunflower oil
• Small soup pan:
• 500 ml water
• 100 gr glass noodle (so-oen)
• Toppings:
• sliced spring onion
• celery leaves
• tomato slices
• boiled eggs
• a quarter slice of lime
• bean sprouts (optional)
• fried shallot (optional)
• chili slices (optional)

Method

1. Start to cook all the ingredients for the large soup pan on medium heat, leave to cook to a simmer. 
2. Meanwhile, prepare the ingredients for the food processor and grind until they becomes a gritty paste. It should have a  fun yellow color!
3. Heat up the non-stick pan and add the paste, with medium heat stir continuously and cook for about 5 - 7 minutes until it's soft and fragrant. Add the paste to the soup pan and mix well. Let simmer for another 30-45 minutes. Take a taste in between, you'll know when the spice goodness is infused in the broth!
4. After 20 minutes, take out the chicken breast, shred or chop the chicken to tiny pieces. Return to the soup or fry a few of them for some crispy chicken (see notes). 
5. On a small soup pan, bring the water to boil and add the the glass noodles, cook for 3 - 4 minutes. Drain and set aside for serving. Using the same pan, boil the eggs. 
6. Prepare the rest of the toppings.
7. When you are ready to serve, remove the chicken carcass, lemon grass stalks, kaffir limes and bay leaves and discard. 
8. Divide the cooked glass noodles on 4 soup bowls. Add in generously the soto ayam broth. Add the toppings. Before eating, sprinkle the soup with some lime juice.

Notes

• This soup can definitely be eaten as is, but I usually eat it with a side of cooked rice and fried chicken. Recipe for the fried chicken coming up soon on the blog!
• If you want some crunchy texture, set aside some of the shredded chicken and fry them to golden crisps.
• There's usually also Sambal on the side, but since I was too lazy to make one I added chili slices in the soup. Remove the seeds form the chili if you're not used to the heat.
• I bought raw chicken carcass from a poultry stall in one of the markets here in Holland. They are called soepkip (=soup chicken). I had a small piece of the neck, bones from the chicken breast and thighs. I think it is something that you can order from your local butcher shop. If the carcass is not available where you are, it can be substitute with a few pieces of chicken wings