May 10, 2007
Soto Ayam and Mee Soto
Soto Ayam is a classic Spicy Chicken Soup, commonly found in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia (”Soto” means “soup” and “Ayam” means “chicken”). The soup is yellow in color due to the use of turmeric as one of its ingredients.
Add yellow noodles to this Soto Ayam and turn it into Mee Soto (Noodle Soup), a great light lunch and participate in Presto Pasta Nights. (*Phew!* Ruth accepts any noodle dish from any culture as entries.)
I was eating chicken salad for a few meals, and every time I boiled the bone-in chicken breast meat, I kept the chicken bones and the broth as a reserve for making this Soto Ayam.
The recipe is fairly simple. Turmeric, ginger, lemon grass, shallots, cloves, cardamons and star anise are all aromatics, contributing to the fragrance of the Soto Ayam. Oh and by the way I was shopping for whole cloves the other day and just FYI, Mccormick cloves sold in Safeway are at an exorbitant price of about US$5 for a small 0.62 oz bottle. If possible, get them from an Asian supermarket. That cost me only US$0.99 for a packet of approximately the same volume.
The Soto Ayam / Mee Soto Recipe below is based on approximated amounts because the amount of various ingredients to add depends on individual taste.
Ingredients (Serves 2):
- 1 handful of fresh / dry yellow noodles
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 chicken breast, bone in
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 lb bean sprouts, pluck off roots and blanched
Garnish:
- 1 small shallot, sliced
- 2 stalks spring onion, chopped
- 2 stalks cilantro, chopped
Soup Ingredients:
- 4-5 slices ginger
- 1 stalk lemon grass (the white part only)
- 1 small shallot
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 5 whole cloves
- 3 cardamons
- 1 star anise
- 1/2 tsp pepper (or more if you like a very peppery tasting soup)
Cooking Method:
1. Cook yellow noodles and set aside. Deep fry sliced shallot (from Garnish) until fragrant. Set aside. Grind the ginger, lemon grass and shallot (from Soup Ingredients) together using a mini food processor. Set aside.
2. Bring chicken broth to a boil, add chicken breast and salt, reduce heat setting to low and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove chicken from broth, shred chicken and set aside. Return chicken bones to the broth. Note: If you like me, have chicken broth made from leftover chicken bones, continue to simmer all the bones in the broth.
3. Heat up 2-3 tbsp cooking oil. When oil is hot enough, saute all the soup ingredients until fragrant. Pour in the chicken broth (together with all the bones) and cook under low heat (simmer, not boiling) for about half an hour till aromatic. Filter off the soup ingredients and get the soup only into serving bowls.
4. Add cooked yellow noodles, blanched bean sprouts and shredded chicken into the bowls. Garnish with chopped spring onions, cilantro and fried shallots.
Oops! The yellow noodles were all hidden under the shredded chicken bean sprouts and garnish :) but this is Mee Soto all right - yellow noodles in Spicy Chicken Soup (Soto Ayam).
Bite This!
More recipes:
Chicken Recipe (6) - Dried Chicken Curry (Indonesian Style)
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May 10th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Haha. Yeah, lady, can’t call it chicken noodle soup if I can’t see the soup. ;)
May 10th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Can’t see the noodles you mean? Gotta dig to find it.
May 10th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
I’ve noticed the same thing about brand name spices. I have not tried Asian stores, but the generic ones, when the store has them, are a lot cheaper.
May 10th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
What a rip off on the spices! Asian markets always have everything cheaper…
May 11th, 2007 at 4:22 am
What a gorgeous take on chicken soup. I can’t wait to try some.
Thanks so much for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights. What noodle dish is up next?
May 11th, 2007 at 11:15 am
DF:
I’d rather pay for a China Panda brand rather than a McCormick Brand for spices.
SK:
Depends on whether there’s a sale at the non-Asian supermarket. I sometimes get chicken thighs for 99 cents a pound.
Ruth:
Thanks for hosting Presto Pasta Nights. I’ll get my brain juices flowing and think of something soon.
May 13th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Hmmm! Looks like really, really good chicken soup. Strangely enough, I can imagine in my head how it tastes.
May 13th, 2007 at 9:20 am
I like Soto with Lontong. They taste absolutely yummy!
September 7th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Today, I’m making soto ayam, it will help my cold and I’m in the mood for a nice soup. I brought some lontong with me from NL and yes, I will cheat a little bit as I also bought some soto ayam bumbu when I was in Amsterdam. Not quite as flavorful so I’ll have to doctor it up a bit. I’ll have some pecil on hand as well with some kroepoek and iced Vietnamese tea. I am looking for the recipe for lumpur, can anyone help me out with that? Thank you in advance
September 26th, 2007 at 12:40 am
the soup lookz mmmm…….
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:12 am
Will cook it tomorrow cause sadly there’s no indonesian stores here in montreux. Your soto ayam looks yummy my mouth is watering already! All you need now is some emping and blachan!!!!!