Soto Ayam

Soto Ayam is a spicy chicken soup with vermicelli. They are delicious with mungbean thread noodles (glass noodles) and lontong (compressed rice roll) too. I consider Soto Ayam a feast by itself and they are commonly found in Indonesia and Malaysia.

The chicken broth are infused with white peppercorns, coriander seeds, ginger, galangal, candlenuts, garlic, shallots, cinnamon, cardamoms pods, star anise and lemon grass.
I also made a special "sambal kicap" to go with the soto ayam. They are mixture of some chopped garlic, plenty of birds eye chillies, Indonesian sweet soy sauce and lime juice. I always serve the soto ayam with a lot of condiments. They are fried tofu, boiled potatoes, beansprouts, hard boiled eggs, chinese celery leaves, scallions, shredded chicken, fried shallots and red chillies.

Well, I can't describe the aroma of the soup but I can tell you that its spicy and it tastes fantastic!

*This is an updated post with a new video cooking guide.



Soto Ayam

Ingredients

14 Cups Chicken Stock
3 Cloves
2 (3 inches) Cinnamon Sticks
4 Star Anise
5 Cardamon Pods

3 Stalk Lemongrass, bruised

5 to 6 Tbsp Peanut or Vegetable Oil
Sea Salt to taste

Spice Paste

40 g Coriander Seeds, pan toasted
10 g Whole White Peppercorn, pan toasted
5 Cloves Garlic

6 Candlenuts

40 – 50 g Galangal, peeled and coarsely chopped
40 – 60 g Ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

4 (about 100 g) Shallots, peeled and coarsely chopped



Accompaniments

350 g Chicken Breast
Rice Vermicelli, or Glass Noodles cooked and drained
Compressed Rice, cubed
Potatoes, boiled, peeled and sliced
Bean Sprouts, scalded

Hard boiled Eggs, halved or quartered
Fried Bean Curd
Fried Tempeh/Tempe
Spicy Sweet Soy Sauce


Garnishing
Celery leaves, chopped
Scallions, chopped
Fried Shallots

Method



Grind the spice paste ingredients with a little water in a blender or food processor. 



In a large stockpot over low heat, add the oil and cook the cloves, cinnamon sticks, star anise, and cardamon pods until fragrant. Then mix in the spice paste, stirring continuously until the mixtures turn brown in color.

Then add in the chicken stock into the spice paste mixture. Bring the mixture to a boil and add in the chicken breast. Then lower the heat and simmer until the chicken is tender, remove and shred the chicken. Continue to simmer the soup for another 40 to 50 minutes. Season the soup with sea salt.

To serve, place some vermicelli or compressed rice into a large bowl. Then top it with some potatoes, bean sprouts, chicken, eggs, fried bean curd, and fried tempeh. Then ladle the hot soup onto the bowl and sprinkle with some celery leaves, fried shallots and scallions. Serve immediately with some spicy sweet soy sauce, if desired.

Serve 8