Soto Ayam from Lamongan

Each region in Indonesia has its version of soto, typically prepared by first boiling meat (can be chicken, beef, entrails, or any combination), then the stock is further cooked by adding various spices. Soto is typically enjoyed by adding the meat with some carbs (steamed rice or simply boiled noodles), hard boiled eggs, some vegetables (varies depending on which soto), juice of kaffir lime (almost always present), chili sauce, and of course the wonderfully flavorful broth. This version of soto hails from the province of Eastern Java. Though not as popular as the more ubiquitous soto betawi, I consider this a healthier option since soto ayam lamongan does not use any coconut milk to make the broth

Soto Ayam Lamongan

Author: Daily Cooking Quest

Recipe type: Soup

Cuisine: Indonesian

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 2 hours

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Soto

• 1 chicken, cut into 4-8 pieces

• 1 liter water

• 3 cloves (Indonesian: cengkeh)

• 2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Grind the following into spice paste

• 5 shallot

• 4 cloves garlic

• 6 candlenut (Indonesian: kemiri)

• 2 inches ginger, peeled

• 1 inch galangal (Indonesian: lengkuas), peeled

• ½ teaspoon black pepper

• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder (Indonesian: kunyit)

• 1 teaspoon coriander powder (Indonesian: ketumbar)

Chili Sauce

• 10 Thai chili (Indonesian: cabe rawit)

• 1 tablespoon drinking water

• ½ teaspoon vinegar

• ½ teaspoon salt

Accompaniments and Garnishes

• 50 gram glass noodle (Indonesian: sohun), lightly boil for 1-2 minutes

• 50 gram shredded cabbage

• 2 stalk scallion, finely chopped

• 2 tablespoon fried shallots

• 4 hard boiled egg

• 4 kaffir lime

• shrimp crackers (not shown in photo)

Instructions

Soto:

1. Add chicken and water in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Remove the chicken from the pot, set aside to cool, then remove the skin and bone from the chicken and divide the chicken meat into 4 portions.

3. In a frying pan, heat 2 tablespoon of oil and stir fry the spice paste, cloves, and salt until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes.

4. Transfer the spice paste back to the pot containing chicken stock and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Chili Sauce:

1. Boil chili until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain the chili, then chop finely and mix with the rest of the ingredients. Note that Thai chili can be very hot, so some of the seeds must be removed to reduce the level of spiciness.

Assemble and Serve:

1. Prepare 4 bowls, add into each bowl some glass noodle, some shredded cabbage, 1 portion of chicken meat, 1 hard boil egg, 1 kaffir lime, garnish with some chopped scallion, fried shallots, and shrimp crackers.

2. Pour roughly 1 cup of the chicken stock in another bowl per person.

3. Just prior to digging in, squeeze the kaffir lime, add the soup into the bowl with noddle and chicken, and add as little or as much chili sauce to each preference.

4. To make a more filling meal, it is quite common to serve this with a bowl of steaming white rice.