🇮🇩 Indonesia · Java and across the archipelago
Soto ayamIndonesian chicken soup
Soto made with chicken: a fragrant, turmeric-coloured broth with shredded chicken, rice vermicelli or rice, bean sprouts, boiled egg, celery or cilantro, fried shallots, and lime and sambal at the table.
Origin and history
Soto ayam is the chicken form of Indonesia's soto family, which Indonesian sources trace to Java's north coast in the 19th century. According to the historian Denys Lombard, cited there, Chinese immigrants introduced soto, the first versions using pork; chicken, beef and other meats came to replace it over time.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 20 min
- Hands-on
- 35 min
Ingredients
- 900 g2 lb bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks, skin on
- 1.8 litres7.5 cups water
- 6 shallots
- 5 cloves garlic
- 4 candlenuts (kemiri), or macadamia nuts
- 3 cm1 in fresh turmeric, or 1 tbsp ground turmeric
- 3 cm1 in fresh ginger
- 1 tsp coriander seeds, toasted
- 1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
- 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
- 3 cm1 in galangal, bruised
- 4 kaffir lime leaves
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- salt and a pinch of sugar, to taste
- 150 g5 oz rice vermicelli, soaked or briefly boiled per packet
- 200 g7 oz bean sprouts, blanched
- 3 hard-boiled eggs, halved
- cilantro or celery leaves, fried shallots, to finish
- limes, sambal, kecap manis, at the table
Method
-
1. Put the chicken in a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil for 3 minutes, then drain and rinse the chicken and pot.
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2. Return the chicken to the pot with 1.8 litres (7.5 cups) of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 30 minutes, skimming off foam.
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3. While it cooks, blend the shallots, garlic, candlenuts, turmeric, ginger, coriander and peppercorns to a smooth paste.
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4. Fry the paste in the oil over medium heat for 5 minutes, then add the lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves and cook 1 minute more, until fragrant.
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5. Lift the chicken from the pot and set aside to cool. Stir the fried paste into the broth and simmer 20 minutes.
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6. Shred the chicken, discarding bones and, if you like, the skin. Season the broth with salt and a pinch of sugar.
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7. Put vermicelli, bean sprouts, egg and shredded chicken in each bowl and ladle the boiling broth over.
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8. Finish with fried shallots and cilantro. Serve with lime, sambal and kecap manis.
Notes
- The distinguishing form of soto ayam is a bright turmeric-yellow chicken broth with shredded chicken, vermicelli or rice, egg and bean sprouts. The parent soto page uses beef; here the protein and the timing change.
- Coconut milk is optional: a few tablespoons stirred in gives a rounder broth, and some regional versions use a clear broth. Soto Lamongan is finished with koya, a savoury garlic and prawn powder.
- A version lighter and clearer than the heavier Indonesian ones is also sold in Singapore.
- Ground turmeric works in place of fresh; macadamia nuts replace candlenuts.
- Make ahead: the broth keeps up to three days in the fridge and tastes better the next day. Store noodles separately.
Adapted from Liputan6, Soto ayam bumbu kuning and Wok and Skillet, Soto Ayam.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.