Soto Sumatra
This soto is slightly different from the ‘regular’ soto ajam. Coconut milk (santen) is added to a soto Sumatra and when serving, some fresh pieces of tomato are also added to the soup and the whole thing is eaten with rice instead of rice noodles.
We eat soto Sumatra in a fantastic restaurant in The Hague: Waroeng Padang Lapek. Highly recommended to eat there if you like spicy and real Indonesian (Sumatra) food! We were immediately inspired to make a soto Sumatra ourselves so we quickly got started at home.
Below you will find Beb Vuyk’s recipe for soto ajam but adapted to a soto Sumatra. More herbs are added: candlenuts, star anise, cinnamon, caraway seeds, a bit of nutmeg, cardamom pods and 3 cloves. You also serve the soto Sumatra with emping!
Soto Sumatra based on Soto Ajam Beb Vuyk #134 on page 137 of the Groot Indonesisch kookboek.
Ingredients
- 1 large fat chicken (not frozen)
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
- 2 large boiled potatoes
- 2 tomatoes
- rice for 4 people
- 250 grams of bean sprouts
- 1 large lemon cut into wedges
- 1 can coconut milk or half a block of santen
Herbs and spices
- 10 tablespoons of chopped onions
- 3 chopped cloves of garlic
- a piece of ginger root of 100 grams
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric (or fresh as big as your little finger)
- 3 teaspoons of galangal (or fresh as big as your index finger)
- 1/2 teaspoon of peppercorns
- 4 jeruk purut leaves
- 4 blades of lemongrass
- 4 kemiri nuts
- 1 piece of cinnamon
- 2 star anise
- 4 cardamom pods
- 3 cloves
- half teaspoon of nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons of caraway seeds
- 2 tablespoons of chopped chives
- 4 tablespoons of chopped celery or spring onion
- 3 salam leaves
- 4 tablespoons of oil
- kecap (soy sauce)
- 2 tablespoons of salt
Serve with emping!
- Grind the chopped onion with the garlic, galangal, turmeric, nutmeg and caraway seeds into a paste
- Bring the chicken to the boil with 2 litres of water, salt, peppercorns, the piece of ginger root, the salam leaves, the lemongrass, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom pods and the cloves.
- Then take the chicken out and remove the breast meat, which is cut into small pieces and fried together with the grinded herbs. The herb paste is sauteed in some oil and added to the gently simmering stock.
- Let this simmer gently for another 1/2 hour.
- Add the coconut milk or santen
- Now remove the chicken from the bones, tendons and less attractive pieces and cut the meat into small pieces that are put back into the stock.
- In the meantime, cook the rice.
- Rinse the bean sprouts under the hot water tap, let them drain as well.
- Cut the potatoes and fresh tomatoes into cubes.
- Sauté the rest of the onions in the oil until golden brown and crispy and also cut the peeled eggs into wedges.
- Arrange all these separately prepared ingredients on small dishes; do the same with the chopped chives. Pour the stock with the chicken meat in a terrine.
The extra herbs are so rich in flavour. It smells delicious now. It really gives the whole soup a different smell. I put my chicken on the stove with the salt, peppercorns, the piece of ginger root, the salam leaves, the lemongrass, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom pods and the cloves. I let everything come to the boil and then let this simmer gently for about 20-30 minutes. Then I take the chicken out and let it cool in a colander (catch the liquid that I can back in the pan) and remove all the meat. In the meantime, the stock continues to simmer with all the herbs in it.
I now grind the onions and garlic together with the herbs. If you use fresh turmeric and galangal, first cut them into super fine pieces.
Then the rubbed spice mix can go into a pan with some oil. When the onions start to shine, I add the fine pieces of chicken and stir-fry well so that everything gets its flavor. I usually leave the herbs in the broth, but if you find that annoying, you can take them out now (before you add the seasoned chicken pieces). Even without chicken, the flavor of the herbs still permeates the broth well.
I add the coconut milk or santen now.
The chicken can go back into the pan and I let it cook for a while, about 10 minutes (Beb says a bit longer). I don’t do that for too long otherwise the chicken will become too dry.
The rice is cooked, my onions and celery are cut; we can serve!
The bean sprouts are not in the picture but I put everything in a bowl with a scoop of rice and also add some sambal and now taste it.
This is a super spicy soup that is fantastically tasty on a hot day. It fills you up but not too much and is especially very good to replenish the salt you sweated out in a healthy way. I will definitely make this more often! Want to see more soto’s and sayurs? Click here.
