What is soto? What is the difference between soto and soup in Indonesia?

Soto is an Indonesian traditional soup that consists of broth, meat, and vegetables and most of the time is eaten with steamed rice or rice cakes wrapped in banana leaves. Soto used many spices (the list can be very long) and is slow-cooked in low heat so we’ll have a very delicious broth at the end of the cooking process. The broth can be made from chicken, beef, goats, and even seafood.

Most of Indonesia’s traditional soups are called soto (different cities or provinces also name it sroto, tauto, or even coto) while soups (or also known as sop in Bahasa Indonesia) are more for Western-influenced soup dishes such as chicken soup with carrots, chicken corn soup, cream soup, mushrooms soup, potato soup, pumpkin soup, vegetable soup, etc. Indonesian soups use fewer spices than soto.

There are so many variations of soto in Indonesia and is available almost everywhere, from small warungs (traditional eatery houses in Indonesia), open-air eateries near offices, street vendors in carts all around the city, hawker centers in malls, to luxurious hotels and fine dining restaurants.

I’ve posted many soto recipes in my blogs that used different ingredients from various cities in Indonesia. Today, I’m going to post soto recipe from Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra (Sumatra is the largest island in Indonesia). Medan has a wide variety of local cuisines and soto Medan is one of the most famous dishes from this city.

This dish can be made from chicken or beef, but today I’m cooking this dish using kampong or free-range chicken. The soup is so flavorful with lots of spices mixed and cooked together with the broth. We also add coconut milk which makes the soup has a very deep flavor. It is usually served with rice, potato croquettes, and keropok (prawn crackers, bitter belinjo crackers, etc.).

No different than any other soto dishes, there are also many condiments to be prepared to accompany this dish, such as vegetables, bean vermicelli, eggs, potatoes, fried shallots, green onions, and chili sauce (you can see the list below).

Soto is one of my family’s comfort dishes, so I cook soto quite often at home. It is actually quite easy to make despite the long list of ingredients. Once you’re used to cooking soto, it would be one of the easiest Indonesian dishes to make at home.

Ingredients:

1. 1 kampong / free-range chicken, cut into 8
2. 1.8 L water
3. 200 ml of coconut cream
4. 5 tbsp cooking oil
5. 1 tbsp ground coriander seeds
6. 1 tsp ground caraway seeds
7. 1 .5 tsp ground turmeric
8. 2 tbsp salt, or to taste
9. 1 tsp ground white pepper, or to taste
10. 1 tbsp sugar
11. 10 (150 gr) shallots
12. 5 garlic
13. 3 candlenuts
14. 2 thumbs of ginger
15. 2 thumbs of galangal, crushed
16. 2 lemongrass take the white parts only and crushed
17. 3 star anise
18. 5 cardamom
19. 5 cm cinnamon stick
20. 5 cloves
21. 10 lime leaves, shredded
22. 5 salam (or bay leaves)
23. 3 tbsp fried shallots
24. 5 green onions, cut into 2 cm in length

Other:

1. white cabbage, finely shredded
2. cooked mung bean sprouts
3. bean vermicelli, soaked in cold water for 15 minutes, then cook in boiling water for 30 seconds or until soft
4. cooked hard-boiled eggs
5. boiled potatoes, cut into bite-size
6. tomatoes, cut each into 8
7. lime juice
8. fried shallots
9. green onions, minced
10. emping / bitter belinjo crackers
11. perkedel / fried mashed potatoes/potato croquettes

Method:

1. Marinate chicken with salt, pepper, ground caraway seeds, ground turmeric, and ground coriander seeds for 1 hour
2. Add shallots, garlic,  candlenuts, and ginger with cooking oil to a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Transfer to a large wok
3. Add galangal and lemongrass to the wok and stir fry the mixture until fragrant and starts to dry (might take 10 to 15 minutes)
4. Add marinated chicken, star anise, cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves, lime leaves, and salam leaves and stir fry until the chicken turns into white color
5. Add sugar, water, and coconut milk, stirring occasionally, and bring the mixture to boil
6. Turn to low heat and cook until the chicken is soft and thoroughly cooked (add water if necessary). Taste and adjust the seasoning (salt and pepper)
7. Add fried shallots and green onions and stir well. Turn off the heat
8. Separate the chicken from the soup, then deep-fried until golden brown. Shred the chicken into small pieces
9. In each serving bowl, add bean vermicelli, cabbage, bean sprouts, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and shredded chicken. Pour the chicken soup (divide equally) into each serving bowls
10. Serve the soup hot with fried shallots, minced green onions, lime juice from fresh limes, perkedel and emping