Soto Ayam Lamongan

Soto is traditional Indonesian soup meant to be a complete meal on its own. If you order a soto from any Indonesian restaurant or food stall, you won’t get just the soup. At the minimum, it will come with a portion of carb (rice, noodles, or rice noodles) and at least one choice of sambal (chili sauce). Depends on which soto, it may even come with kerupuk (crackers) and acar (pickle).

In this post, I will share my recipe for soto Lamongan. Soto Lamongan originates from the province of East Java. More often than not, you will find soto Lamongan not in high-end restaurants, but on the streets. The majority of soto Lamongan sellers offer their wares from a gerobak (food cart). You will know which one is worth your money judging from the length of lines/queues during lunchtime breaks from nearby offices or schools.

What is included in soto Lamongan?

A portion of soto Lamongan usually includes the following:

• chicken soup cooked with free-range chicken (Indonesian: ayam kampung)
• a portion of glass noodles (Indonesian: sohun)
• a hard-boiled egg
• finely shredded cabbage
• thinly sliced scallions (Indonesian: daun bawang)
• finely chopped Chinese celery (Indonesian: daun seledri)
• fried shallots (Indonesian: bawang goreng)
• kaffir lime wedges (Indonesian: jeruk limo)
• chili sauce (Indonesian: sambal cabe)
• shrimp crackers and garlic powder (Indonesian: koya)

Soto Lamongan chicken soup

1. Ingredients for the chicken soup

To prepare the chicken soup to serve four, we need:

• 1 free-range chicken (Indonesian: ayam kampung)
• 2 liter (8 cups) water/chicken stock
• 3 Indonesian bay leaves (Indonesian: daun salam), omit if you don’t have these
• 2 lemongrass (Indonesian: sereh), bruised and knotted
• 5 kaffir lime leaves (Indonesian: daun jeruk)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon salt, or to taste
• 100 gram shallots (about 8 Chinese shallots, or about 3 French shallots)
• 8 cloves garlic
• 6 candlenut (Indonesian: kemiri)
• 2 inch ginger (Indonesian: jahe)
• 1 inch galangal (Indonesian: lengkuas)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder (Indonesian: kunyit)
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder (Indonesian: ketumbar)

2. Preparing the spice paste

Grind together shallots, garlic, candlenut (Indonesian: kemiri), ginger, galangal, black pepper, turmeric powder, and coriander powder into a spice paste using a food processor, a blender’s spice attachment, or a mortar and pestle.

3. Cooking the chicken soup

Boil together chicken and water/stock in a soup pot, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Use a skimmer/slotted spoon to remove any floating scum.

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and fry the spice paste until fragrant, about 3-5 minutes. Add daun salam (if using), lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves. Stir and cook for 1 minute.

Add the cooked spice paste into the pot. Bring the soup back to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked. Season with salt and adjust the amount as needed.

Remove the chicken from the pot. Once cool enough to handle, remove the skin and bones from the chicken, and divide the meat into four portions.

Soto Lamongan chili sauce

The chili sauce for soto Lamongan is very simple to prepare. It only needs bird’s eye chilies (Indonesian: cabe rawit), water, white vinegar, and salt.

Boil 10 bird’s eye chilies until soft for about 10 minutes and drain. Finely chop the chilies, and mix with 1 tablespoon of drinking water, 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Since bird’s eye chilies can be quite hot, you may want to remove the seeds from the chilies to reduce the spiciness level of the chili sauce.

Soto Lamongan koya

Koya is a seasoning powder made from shrimp crackers (Indonesian: kerupuk udang), fried garlic, and salt.

Fry about 15 pieces of shrimp crackers in hot oil over medium heat until the crackers expand. Set aside over a wire rack to drain the excess oil.

Fry 5 cloves of minced garlic until golden brown and set aside to cool.

Grind together shrimp crackers, fried garlic, and salt in a food processor into fine powder to make koya.

If you don’t want the hassle of preparing koya, you can also serve soto Lamongan with shrimp crackers.

Serving soto Lamongan

Once you have prepared the chicken soup, the chili sauce, and koya, you are almost done preparing for a soto Lamongan meal.

Since this recipe serves four, you will need four bowls. Use large bowls such as ramen bowls or pho bowls.

For each bowl, add lightly boiled glass noodles, finely shredded cabbage, pieces of chicken meat, and 1 hard-boiled egg. Pour chicken broth to cover. Garnish with scallions, Chinese celery, and fried shallots. Serve with kaffir lime wedges (or regular lime wedges), chili sauce, and koya powder (or shrimp crackers).