Indonesian Chicken Soup (Soto Ayam)

I was born and lived in Indonesia until I was 9. At that point, my family moved to back to the US. For my parents, it meant coming home and even for my older sisters who were 5 and 7 when we moved to Indonesia, moving to the US was a lot more comfortable for them than it was for me. For me, Indonesia was all I had known to that point. I'm 35 now and I still think of Indonesia as "home". I do also think of my home here, and I could go on about the oddities of being a "third culture kid", but lets just say that I have an very deep love for Indonesia. The people, the beauty and the food...Which brings us to this recipe. This recipe is really the Indonesian equivalent to chicken soup. It's so much more than that, almost like the Vietnamese Pho, if you've ever had that.

There are a couple of ingredients in this dish that you MUST use fresh. Dried versions of lemon grass, ginger and Galanga are unacceptable... sorry short cutters. The best way to get these things are to find your nearest Asian market and if you've never been to one, this is going to be a grand adventure for you. Don't be afraid to ask for help!

A word of warning: although this recipe is not hard to make, it does take about 4 hours total time (3 of them are just boiling chicken and simmering broth, so although you have to be present, the actual working time is only about an hour.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

One whole chicken 4 stalks of lemon grass 1 inch of Ginger root 1 1/2 inches of Galanga root 2 Tbs of Chicken bullion (I highly recommend the "Better than Bullion" brand) Rind of one lemon 2 Bay Leaves 6 Cloves of Garlic 1 head of celery 1 tsp of ground black pepper 4 cups of water

2 cups of rice (cooked per usual) 1 small head of cabbage (shredded finely) *You can use packaged cole slaw mix if you're feeling lazy) 3 cups (approximately one package) of bean sprouts (steamed briefly) 1 bunch of green onions (sliced) fried shallots (can be purchased at an Asian market. Alternately, you can use French's fried onions) 1 9oz can of Shoestring potatoes 3 Lemons (cut into wedges)

Directions:

1. Place your whole chicken in a large stock pot (remove any things such as neck's and hearts). Cover it with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low and continue to boil (covered) until the chicken is done (approximately one hour). The best way to tell if the chicken is done is to take tongs and twist one of the legs away from the chicken body. If the bone pulls free very easily, your chicken is done. Once it's done, remove the whole chicken and place in a bowl to cool.

2. Skim any scum, chicken bits, skin etc from the broth and discard. Place all of the spices (see instructions below) and the chicken bullion in the broth, add water to make about 10 cups of liquid and return to a boil.

For the spices:

- Ginger: Cut 4-5, 1/4" slices off of the Ginger root. - Galanga: Cut 6-7 1/4" slices off of the Galanga root - Lemon Grass: Take each stalk of lemon grass and use a meat mallet, hammer etc to pound on the fat end. The goal is to break it open to allow more flavor out of the stalks. When I buy the lemongrass at the Asian market, they are still in very long (14-16 inch) stalks. I usually cut them in half so that they don't stick out of the pot too much. Just make sure to use a sharp knife and use your muscles. - Lemon rind: Using a vegetable peeler, take all of the rind off of the lemon, trying not to take too much of the white pithy part. - Garlic: you can either chop the garlic or use a garlic press. - Bay Leaf: Just throw two whole ones in there - Pepper: Same deal - Chicken Bullion: I would highly recommend using "Better than Bullion" brand chicken bullion. The flavor it provides is so superior to traditional dried bullion.

3. Cover the pot and let it boil for 2-3 hours on medium low. You may need to add more water if it boils away too much. You should have about a 10-12 cups of broth in total by the end of the cooking process.

4. Celery: peel away all of the outer stalks until you get to the inside portion that has all the leaves on it. You mainly want the tender stalks and all of the leaves. Roughly chop them and reserve for garnish at the end.

5. While the broth is simmering, prepare the toppings:

- Cook the rice - Take the chicken off of the bones and shred it. Place in a bowl for use later - Cut the lemon's into wedges - Shred the cabbage - Cut the green onions - lightly steam the sprouts (just enough to take the major crunch off of them. I usually place them in a bowl, cover and microwave them for 1-11/2 minutes. - Place the crispy shallots and the shoestring potatoes in oven proof bowls and place in a warm oven to warm prior to serving. This is not necessary, but nice.

6. When ready to eat, remove all of the spices from the broth with a slotted spoon or wire mesh strainer. You want the broth to be a free of bits and pieces as possible. Taste the broth and adjust the chicken bullion as needed. Once this is done, sprinkle the celery leaves on top and serve with all of the "toppings" listed above.

Tips:

This is a layered dish and you can really leave out any topping that you might not particularly enjoy, although I encourage you to try them all :-)

Make sure you have the largest soup bowl in your possession. You really want room for all of these ingredients.

It doesn't really matter what order you put the ingredients in, as they tend to get all mixed together in the end, but here is the easiest way to do it:

Rice (be careful not to get too much. This dish adds up really quickly and most people tend to think you need a lot of rice...not so. 1/2 cup or less is all you need. Chicken Sprouts Cabbage Shallots Squeeze of Lemon Broth (there should be enough broth to come at least 2/3rds of the way up your bowl) Top with shoestring potatoes.

enJoy!