Soto Kediri / Indonesia Traditional Herbed Chicken Soup from Kediri

On By cruiseoflifeIn Boil, Chicken, Cooking Style, Indonesian Cuisine, Lunch and Dinner, Main Ingredients, Soup, Type of Food

Soto is a traditional Indonesian dish that is very well known almost everywhere. It is actually a type of soup and it can be either chicken or beef soup. Soto is many people’s comfort food that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Nasi soto or soto with steam rice is a very common breakfast in some areas (although it might be a bit high in calories it is so satisfying to have a bowl or plate of rice with hot soto / soup on top of the rice). Yes, when I said nasi soto it meant that the seller would serve them all together in one plate or bowl with other condiments that we could choose ourselves such as quail egg satay, fried tempeh, potato fritters, etc.

Although it is mainly beef or chicken soup, still, different cities in Indonesia have their own recipes for delicious soto. Sometimes, the name of the dish is usually based on the name of the city where the dish came from, for example, Soto Betawi, Soto Banjar, Soto Kediri, Soto Surabaya, Soto Mahakam, etc. Those are the name of the cities in Indonesia. Other times, we name this dish based on the main ingredient such as Soto Ayam (chicken soto), Soto Daging (beef soto), Soto Mie (soto with noodle), etc.

The dish that I am going to share the recipe below is called Soto Kediri. 

Kediri is a small town in Indonesia located in East Java. This city is located only a short distance from Surabaya which is the capital city of East Java and one of the big cities in Indonesia. I’ve shared the recipe of Soto Ambengan which is a yellow chicken soup from Surabaya, and although these dishes look similar to one another, there are some differences in the spices that we use in both dishes.

Soto Kediri uses kencur which is a spice commonly found only in some areas in Indonesia especially in Java, and it might be difficult to find in other places. Kencur is known as Kaempferia galanga or aromatic ginger or sand ginger and is a plant in the ginger family. It has a very strong fragrant smell and flavor (some people might like it and some might don’t) so we will only use not too much of this spice in this dish.

This recipe also uses shrimp paste which at first I thought would make the dish taste quite strange, but I changed my mind immediately after I tasted it. It was so delicious and fresh. One other thing, it also uses coconut milk to make the soup thicker and creamier than our usual chicken soto. To make it taste lighter (or for lower calories), you can skip the coconut milk as it was already very delicious even without the coconut milk.

So, here is the recipe for Soto Kediri for your breakfast, lunch, or dinner:

Ingredients:

  1. 1 medium-size chicken, cut into 8
  2. 5 tbsp cooking oil
  3. 8 garlic
  4. 10 shallots (150 gr)
  5. 5 candlenuts, stir fry without oil until fragrant and starts to brown
  6. 1 tsp shrimp paste (terasi), pan fry with very little oil until fragrant
  7.  1 thumb ginger
  8. 20 gr peeled aromatic ginger (kencur)
  9. 1 tsp coriander powder
  10. 1 tsp turmeric powder
  11. 2 thumbs galangal, slice into 6
  12. 2 lemongrass, take the white part and crush
  13. 5 salam or bay leaves
  14. 8 lime leaves
  15. 2 L water
  16. 2 tbsp salt, or to taste
  17. 1 tbsp sugar
  18. 1 tsp pepper, or to taste
  19. 100 ml UHT coconut milk
  20. 3 tbsp fried shallots
  21. 2 tbsp fried garlic
  22. 10 scallions or green onions, minced
  23. cooked bean sprouts
  24. bean vermicelli, soak in cold water until soften, then cook in boiling water for about 30 seconds or just until soft
  25. 2 tomatoes, cut each into 8
  26. freshly squeeze lime juice

Method:

  1. In a blender, add cooking oil, shallots, garlic, candlenuts, shrimp paste, ginger, and aromatic ginger and process until smooth and form a paste (add oil if your blender doesn’t work well with little oil). Transfer the paste to a wok or pan
  2. Add turmeric and coriander powder, galangal, and lemongrass to the pan and stir fry until really fragrant and the paste starts to dry (it may take up to 15 minutes in medium heat). Transfer to a large pot (I used an electric multi-function cooker to make soup but you can also cook on the stovetop)
  3. Add chicken, water, salam and lime leaves, salt, sugar, and pepper and bring to boil
  4. Once boiling, add coconut milk and stir until it boils again (this is to make sure that the coconut milk is not crumbled or break apart during the cooking process
  5. Continue cooking (no need to stir anymore) until the chicken is soft. Turn off the heat (If using the stovetop, the water will reduce during the cooking process, so please check and add water accordingly. If using a slow cooker or multi-function cooker, no need to add water during the cooking process)
  6. Add fried shallots, fried garlic, and minced scallions. Stir to mix
  7. Remove chicken from the pot
  8. Deep fry chicken just until it turns golden (for about 2 minutes on each side in hot oil). If you deep fry the chicken for too long, it will be dry and  tough to chew
  9. Shred or cut the chicken into smaller parts using a fork or knife
  10. Arrange tomatoes, eggs, bean vermicelli, and bean sprout on serving bowls, then pour the soup
  11. Add shredded chicken on top, then sprinkle more fried garlic and minced scallions
  12. Serve hot with crackers or chips

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