soto ayam

Anita Jacobson’s selected soto ayam is the Lamongan chicken-soup version she associates with East Java and food-cart meals. Its turmeric-and-aromatic broth is assembled with glass noodles, cabbage and boiled eggs.

Chicken simmers in the selected water base while shallots, garlic, candlenuts, ginger, galangal, black pepper, turmeric and coriander are ground into a paste. The paste fries in oil with lemongrass, makrut lime leaves and optional Indonesian bay leaves before joining the soup.

Once cooked, the chicken is lifted out, skinned and deboned, then divided for the bowls. A separate chili sauce combines boiled, drained and chopped bird’s-eye chilies with drinking water, white vinegar and salt.

The selected koya topping fries shrimp crackers and minced garlic, then grinds them with salt into a fine powder. Glass noodles and cabbage join each portion of chicken and a prepared hard-boiled egg before the broth is poured over them.

Scallions, Chinese celery and fried shallots finish the bowls. Selected regular lime wedges, the separate chili sauce and koya accompany the soup, bringing several textures and seasonings to the completed dish.