The celebration of Hari Raya is never complete without visiting friends and relatives, and of course good food. It is the season in the entire month of Syawal, when friends and relatives would drop by for Raya open houses, where celebrative goodies, ketupat, lemang and rendang are well spread on the table for guests to savour and devour.
Aside from the usual Raya offerings, Soto is also a popular dish to serve during Raya open house. Soto is a traditional soup originated from Indonesia mainly composed of broth, meat and vegetables, cooked with various spices and typically served with compact rice cubes (nasi himpit or ketupat) or rice vermicelli (bihun), and deep fried potato patties (begedil) or beef meatballs.
There are various versions of Soto. Ours comes in a light chicken broth cooked with various spices to give you a wonderful aroma that will sure tantalize your taste buds. What’s more, you can just use ready-to-cook QL FIGO Beef Meatballs, which are pre-cooked and frozen using the advanced IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) technology, to preserve the nutrition and tastefulness of the meatballs.
Serve it with nasi himpit or rice vermicelli for a complete meal, be it Raya open house gathering, or anytime throughout the year for a yummy feast!
Ingredients
| 2 | chicken carcasses (cut into smaller pieces) + 500 g chicken breast (skin removed) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 packet | QL FIGO Beef Meatball (500g) | |
| 1 tbsp | white peppercorn, pounded | |
| 2 l | water | |
| 2 | chicken stock cubes | |
| 3 stalks | lemongrass, crushed | |
| Salt to taste | ||
| Cooking oil for sautéing and frying | ||
| 100 g | roasted or fried groundnuts | |
| 1 bowl | mung bean sprouts (taugeh), washed | |
| 50 g | glass noodle (soo hoon or tang hoon), fried with hot oil and drained | |
| Fried shallots | ||
| 3 stalks | Chinese celery (daun sup), coarsely chopped | |
| 2 stalks | spring onion, shredded | |
| Nasi himpit (compact rice cubes), cooked according to instructions on packet and cut into cubes | ||
To grind (A): | ||
| 10 | cloves garlic | |
| 10 | shallots | |
| 2 inches | ginger, sliced | |
| 1 inch | fresh turmeric (or 1 teaspoon ground turmeric) | |
| 10 | candle nuts | |
| 1 tsp | ground coriander | |
| 1 tsp | ground cumin | |
| 1 tsp | ground fennel | |
Spices to sauté (B): | ||
| 3 cm | cinnamon | |
| 2 | star anise | |
| 3 | cloves | |
| 2 | cardamom | |
Soy sauce sambal (Sambal kicap): | ||
| 10 – 15 | bird’s eye chilies | |
| 3 cloves | garlic | |
| 4 – 5 tbsp | sweet soy sauce (kicap manis) | |
| Juice from 2 kalamansi lime | ||
| 2 – 3 tbsp | soto broth | |
Method
- Heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a large pot or stock pot and sauté ground ingredients (A) until fragrant.
- Add in spices (B) and continue to sauté for another minute. Pour in water and add chicken carcasses and breast, and stock cubes. Leave to boil.
- Add pounded white peppercorns, lemongrass and salt (to taste), continue to simmer on low heat for another 15 – 20 minutes until chicken is thoroughly cooked.
- Remove chicken breast from the pot and drain. Add in QL FIGO Beef Meatballs (thawing not required). Let the broth continue to simmer on low heat.
- Fry chicken with cooking oil until golden brown. Remove and drain off oil. When cooled, shred the chicken meat into smaller pieces.
- To make soy sauce sambal, pound bird’s eye chilies together with garlic cloves into a coarse paste (not too fine). Transfer into a medium bowl and stir in sweet soy sauce, Soto broth and kalamansi lime juice.
- To serve, arrange compact rice cubes in a deep plate, garnish with shredded chicken, bean sprouts, fried glass noodles, groundnuts and pour over hot broth and FIGO Beef Meatballs.
- Sprinkle with chopped Chinese celery, spring onion and fried shallots, serve immediately with soy sauce sambal.
QL Kitchen Tips:
- You can also serve Soto with blanched rice vermicelli (bihun) in place of compact rice cubes.
- If you like a rich broth, you can add in 100 – 150 ml of thick coconut milk with the water.
- If you like your broth to have a stronger aroma, increase another teaspoon each of ground coriander, cumin and fennel.
To find out more about QL Figo Foods and where to buy them, click here
