This is the moment a lot of people have been waiting for; the first post about food in Malaysia is here! Today I had a dish that I found worth sharing. Actually it is not a true Malaysian dish since Soto Ayam comes from Indonesia originally. But this dish has blended in the Malaysian food culture as well and is considered as a dish from there also.
Soto Ayam (ayam stands for Chicken) is a soup made with a lot of herbs and veggie. Also it contains chunks of rice cake in the soup together with shredded chicken breast. To give the soup some more spice you can add some fresh chili sauce in it. As you can see I like my soup a bit spicy since I add quite some chili sauce. To fill up the last empty pieces of my stomach I also eat fried rice wrapped in baked egg. Which was also very nicely decorated on the place.
If you want to try and make your own Soto Ayam I have looked up the recipe for you, which is below this picture. Let me know how it worked out for you.
How to make Soto Ayam? Here is what you need:
- 1.4kg whole chicken, cut into 4 pieces
- 2L (8 cups) water
- 2 stems lemongrass, quartered
- 4 kaffir lime leaves
- 8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3 French shallots, finely chopped
- 5cm-piece fresh ginger, peeled, finely grated
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tbs rice bran oil
- 100g pkt bean thread vermicelli noodles
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled, quartered
- 65g (1 cup) bean sprouts
- 1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves
Step 1
Place the chicken in a saucepan. Add the water, lemongrass, lime leaves, half the garlic and salt. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked. Transfer the chicken to a plate, reserving the poaching liquid. Cool slightly. Remove and discard the skin and bones. Shred the chicken. Transfer to a bowl and keep warm.Step 2
Use a mortar and pestle to pound French shallot, ginger and remaining garlic until a coarse paste forms. Add the cumin, ground coriander and peppercorns. Pound until peppercorns are coarsely crushed. Stir in turmeric.
Step 3
Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook the French shallot mixture, stirring, for 3 minutes or until aromatic. Add reserved poaching liquid. Bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 5 minutes to develop the flavours. Strain through a fine sieve into a large bowl. Season.
Step 4
Cook the noodles following packet directions. Drain. Divide among bowls. Top with the chicken and shallot. Divide the broth among the bowls. Top with egg, bean sprouts and fresh coriander.
Fried rice wrapped in egg
