soto medan

Endang Lestari’s Soto Medan brings fried beef shank and chicken together under a spiced coconut broth. Her recipe places the dish in Medan, North Sumatra, and highlights the fried meat topping and the curry-like notes of cinnamon, coriander and cumin.

Beef shank boils in water until tender, and its strained broth is reserved. Selected bone-in chicken breast cooks in a separate pot before both meats are cut into pieces.

Shallots, garlic, candlenuts, ginger, galangal, selected fresh turmeric, coriander, cumin, nutmeg, pepper and salt form the ground seasoning. That paste fries with makrut lime leaves, Indonesian bay leaves, cinnamon and bruised lemongrass.

The fried seasoning enters the beef broth, followed by thick coconut milk and sweet soy sauce. Separately, the boiled beef and chicken fry until their surfaces become somewhat dry, then drain.

Lestari arranges the fried meat in bowls and pours the hot soup over it, with scallions and celery on top. She describes serving both broth and filling hot, with rice, potato patties, a selected cracker accompaniment and optional chili sambal alongside.