Soto

Soto is another popular dish in Johor and Selangor where people of Javanese descend live.My late father in-law loved the soto in Tanjong Karang but it is no longer found there.The soto in the fish market at Sungai Besar is okay except for the not so clean surroundings.Nowadays we eat the soto at the Dataran Sungai Besar which can be considered as having passed our standards.
Soto is basically compressed rice or nasi empet in chicken soup plus a lot of garnishing and added with a sauce made from soya and bird chillies.Instead of rice, one can also eat the soup with yellow noodles(mee) or rice vermicelli (bihun).A tasty and hot chicken soup makes a good soto.Soto can be eaten at any time of the day but normally it is taken at breakfast, just like nasi lemak.Soto is also eaten during Eid celebrations.

Preparing soto takes many steps.An assistant would be a great help.

My soto is made as folows:
Ingredients for soup:
1/2 chicken (cut into 4 pieces)
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 stalk lemon grass (serai)
2.5 cm galangal (lengkuas)
2.5 cm ginger (halia)
1 cube Knorr Chicken Stock (no MSG)
4 bowls water
5 tablespoon cooking oil
salt
Pounded Ingredients
(You can also grind the dry spices in a grinder)
8 small onions
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon black pepper (lada hitam)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (jintan manis)
1 teaspoon star anise (bunga lawang)
1 teaspoon coriander seeds (biji ketumbar)
Optional Pounded Ingredients:
4 cm cinnamon stick (kayu manis)
5 pieces cloves (bunga cengkih)
3 pieces cardamoms (buah pelaga)

(You can also use powdered soup base found in the market if you cannot find the spices.However, the taste will be different.)
Some people put turmeric in the soup. That would make the soup yellowish.

Other Ingredients:
600g rice made into nasi empet and cut into 2.5 cm squares.(See nasi empet recipe posted earlier on May 12, 2008)
200g beansprouts (taugeh), tailed and parboiled briefly
50g beanthread,(soo hoon) deep fried in hot oil
2 stalks spring onions (daun bawang),shredded
2 stalks celery (daun sup),shredded
20 shallots, sliced and deep fried till golden brown (bawang goreng)
4 meat balls(pegedil)

Sambal Ingredients:
Bird chillies (cili padi)and garlic cloves pounded coarsely and mixed with black soya sauce, lime juice or vinegar and sugar to taste.(Omit the garlic if you don't fancy raw garlic.)

I will put the pegedil recipe below.You can prepare the pegedil, fried shallots and fried soo hoon a day earlier and keep them separately in airtight containers.

Making the soup:
Heat cooking oil in a big pot. When hot, fry the sliced onions and garlic till golden.Add pounded ingredients and fry till fragrant.Add in water,lemon grass,and galangal and cook till boiled.Put in chicken, salt, Knorr cube, and cook over medium heat till chicken is tender.Remove the chicken,shred its meat and put aside.Bring the soup back to the boil and turn off the heat.
To serve, use medium size bowls.Put in a few pieces of nasi empet, some bean sprouts,bean threads,a piece of pegedil and shredded chicken meat to each bowl.Pour in the hot soup.Sprinkle the shredded spring onions and celery and fried shallots.Serve the black sambal prepared earlier in a separate bowl.

To make pegedil:
Mince some beef and mix with mashed boiled potatoes.Add salt and black pepper powder.
Roll into small balls with the fingers and flat the balls.Do not add water. Dip each ball in beaten eggs before deep frying in hot oil.