Medanese Style Chicken soup with coconut milk (Soto Ayam Medan)

Ingredients (serve 6):
2 lbs chicken breast
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp ground lemon grass or 1 lemon grass
5 lime leaves
1/2″ galangal
1 cup coconut milk
3 hard boiled eggs
6 cups bean sprout -> boil quickly before serving
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt -> 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce

Spices:
8 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tbsp ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2″ ginger
3 nutmeg

Garnish:
1 green onion
fried shallots




Directions:

1. Put chicken and 4 cups of water in sauce pan and turn the heat to high. When the water boils, turn the heat to low, and put in bay leaf, lime leaves and galangal. Simmer for another 8 – 10 mins, put the chicken aside and leave the chicken broth on low heat.
2. Put all the spices in a blender, and ground them. Spray oil on frying pan and stir fry the ground spices for 1-2 minutes. Put the ground spices and salt and sweet soy sauce in the chicken broth and mix well.
3. Put the coconut milk into the chicken broth mix and stir every 10 minutes or so under low heat. Stirring under low heat is important, because otherwise the coconut milk won’t mix well. Keep doing this for 1 hour.
3. Cut chicken into bite sizes, and mix well with soy sauce, then stir fry for 3-4 minutes.
4. On a bowl, put half hard boiled eggs, bean sprout and chicken. Garnish with green onion and fried shallots. Pour 1/6th of the broth mix on top of it. Enjoy!

Tofu in soy sauce (semur tahu)

Ingredients:

* 4 blocks of tofu, deep fry until half-cooked
* 4 shallots, sliced
* 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
* 2 tblsp oil
* 3 cloves
* 1 tsp of white pepper powder
* 2 whole cardamoms
* 1 tomato, diced,
* 2 tblsp of ketchup
* 5 tblsp (or to taste) kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
* 1 1/2 cups water
* sugar and salt to taste

Direction:

* Heat oil in the pan, add sliced shallots and garlic, stir fry until fragrant.
* Add white pepper powder, cloves, cardamoms, tomato and ketchup, sugar and salt continue to stir fry for about 1 minute.
* add sweet soy sauce, and tofu stir well, and lastly add water.
* Simmer, uncover until the water evaporate to half and a bit thickened.
* Remove from heat and Sprinkle with fried shallots.

Soto Ayam/Chicken Soup

Ingredients:
500gr boneless chicken
1 can coconut milk
1 liter chicken stock
1 cup water
cooking oil
sugar n salt

Seasoning Paste:
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
4 shallots (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 inc galangal (chopped)
1 lemon grass
1 tblsp of lemon juice


Other ingredients:
sliced cabbages
bean sprouts
1/2 pack of vermicelli
2 limes, cut into wedges
2 hard-boiled eggs (cut into wedges)
1 of spring onion (chopped)

Directions:
Pour some oil in a pot and add in the seasoning paste. Stir the seasoning paste and wait till it turns light brown. Add in chicken stock, coconut milk, lemon grass and water. Once the stock starts boiling, add in chicken. Cover the pot and lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Blanch beansprouts, soaked vermicelli, cabbages in another pot of boiling water and transfer them into a bowl once they are cooked. Add in toppings of hard-boiled eggs, chopped spring onions and pour the hot chicken stock into the bowl. Serve hot with lime wedges.