| Main Menu
|
Soto Ayam
|
- Chinese Food
- Peranakan Food
- Malay Food
- Indian Food
- Others inclusive of Italian, Japanese and Thailand Food
- Queer Food
- Places where you can find good food
- Survey
- Introduction of the six chefs
- Acknowledgements
|
Soto Ayam (Chicken Soup with Noodles)
As the ancestors of many Malay Singaporeans originally came from Java, it's not surprisingly that the Javanese noodle soup can be found at most Singapore food centres. It's ideal as a light luncheon dish, or can be eaten as a starter to a main meal. Many Singaporean dishes are quite simple. It is the array of garnishes that accompanies the dish which makes it so exciting and interesting.
A perfect example is Soto Ayam, a popular street-hawker and family-style soup. It is a simple chicken soup spiked with mild seasonings. The accompanying garnishes add dimension, complementing the soup and stimulating the appetite. Make as many or as few garnishes as you like, and set the table so that your guests can garnish their soup.
Ingredients:
REMPAH
2 quarter-size slices fresh galangal, cut up
8 shallots (walnut-size) or 2 onions, peeled and sliced
1-inch chunk fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
*
3½ quarts water
1 chicken (2½ pounds)
2 stalks fresh lemongrass, trimmed and slapped with the side of a cleaver or bruised with a mallet
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2½ tablespoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons whole cardamom pods
2 sticks cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
1½ teaspoons salt
GARNISHES
6 cups fresh bean sprouts
Lontong, cut into 1-inch cubes
Potato Perkedel
6 tablespoons chopped Chinese celery or parsley
3 tablespoons Crisp Shallot Flakes
Procedure:
- To prepare the rempah, grind the galangal, shallots, ginger to a smooth paste in a blender or food processor.
- Add a tablespoon or more of water if needed to facilitate the blending.
- Transfer the mixture to a stockpot.
- Add the water, chicken, and lemongrass to the pot and bring it to boil.
- Skim and discard the scum from the surface; reduce to simmer.
- Grind the cumin and fennel seeds to a powder in a spice mill.
- Put them in a fine-mesh muslin cloth spice bag with the coriander, cardamom, and cinnamon.
- Add the bag to the stockpot. Simmer for 45 minutes.
- Season the soup with sugar and salt.
- Remove the chicken, discard the spice bag and the lemongrass.
- Strain the stock and keep it warm (you should have about 10 cups).
- When the chicken is cool, hand tear into shreds.
- To serve, put 1 cup of bean sprouts in each soup bowl. Scatter ½ cup of shredded chicken, 3 lontong cubes, and 1 potato perkedel on top. Pour about 1½ cups of hot chicken stock over the garnishes. Top with Chinese celery and shallot flakes.
 
|
