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Mum's Soto Ayam

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Mum's Soto Ayam

You need:

10 cups of water
1 medium sized chicken
10 shallots, peeled and sliced thinly
5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 thumb sized galangal (blue ginger), sliced
15 cloves
8 aniseed segments
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1.5 tsp white pepper
2 chicken stock cubes
salt and pepper to taste
100-200g of bean sprouts (or according to preference)

How to:

Blanche bean sprouts in boiling water, drain and set aside.

Place 10 cups of water into a heavy bottom pot and bring to a boil.

While waiting for water to boil, heat up some oil in a wok, fry shallots and garlic separately until golden brown. Remove and set aside.

Fry the galangal, cloves and aniseed segments until fragrant. Remove and set aside

When water is boiling, add in the fried galangal, cloves, aniseed, 3/4 tsp nutmeg and 1.5 tsp white pepper. Let boil for 5 minutes.

Place chicken into pot. Let boil for another 10 minutes and then lower flame. Simmer for at least an hour.

Remove chicken from soup and quickly dip in cold water to stop the cooking process. Remove skin and debone chicken. Return the chicken bones into the soup. Shred chicken meat and set aside.

Add chicken stock and fried shallots and garlic into soup. Season with salt and pepper Bring to a gentle boil for about 10 minutes. Turn off heat.

To serve, place some a portion of bean sprouts and shredded chicken into a bowl and pour the hot soup over. Best eaten piping hot.

Note: Soto Ayam is normally eaten with bergedil, (fried potato patties), but we don't like it too much so we go without. To make the soto more substantial, I sometimes add tung hoon, (mung bean vermicelli) to the soup.

Labels: asian food, one dish meals, she cooks, soups