Tag Archives: kecap manis

Soto Ayam Chicken Soup

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Soto Ayam or Saoto soup as it is known in Suriname is Indonesian for Chicken Soup.

Divine chicken soup to be correct and this has got to be one of my favourite dishes in the world. I used to make this every Sunday until my husband put a stop to this. Most of the time I make a pot for myself, and whenever I have an upset tum this is the only thing that gets me through the day.

Also good for sweating out colds, have a hot cup of soto ayam with loads of sambal and you’ll feel better in no time!

Ingredients for a big pot of soup

2 l water

2 Indonesian bay leaves (salam leaves)

1 big onion, chopped

5 cm ginger root, thinly sliced

5 cm galangal root, thinly sliced

2 large chicken stock cubes

salt

black pepper

5 black pepper corns

2 lemongrass stalks

2 chicken leg quarters, rinsed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Start by bringing the water to a boil in a large soup pot. Then add all the ingredients to the water, cover the pot and reduce heat to low. Simmer until the chicken is done.

Remove the chicken from the soup and let it cool off. Skim fat from the broth. Also scoop the rest of the ingredients out of the pot, leaving nothing but the broth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shred the chicken after it’s cooled off, heat oil in a pan and bake the chicken shreds until golden brown.

Soto Ayam is served with shredded chicken, potato chips (available at the supermarket), fried shallots, beansprouts, cabbage (thinly sliced), a boiled egg, cooked rice, sambal and I finish it off with some chopped coriander. Put these ingredients in individual bowls.

The idea is that everyone puts their desired amount of all the ingredients in a bowl, the reheated soup is then poured over it, sambal added to taste and you’re ready to enjoy what I think is the best soup ever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’d like to make my favourite sambal, go to any Chinese, Thai or Indonesian toko (I go to those in China Town) and buy a bottle of sweet Kecap Manis.

Finely chop 3 cm ginger root, 2 garlic cloves and 1-2 Scotch bonnets. Pour a cup of Kecap Manis into a pan and add a cup of tea (yes tea!) and bring to a boil. Add the ginger, garlic and Scotch bonnets and stir. Add 1-2 ts sugar and slowly boil the sambal until it is slightly thicker.

I’m having soto ayam today and I seriously cannot wait for dinner tonight!

 

 

 

 

 

I heart Amsterdam

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It’s been nearly a year since we moved from Zaandam, a small town near Amsterdam, to London, my favourite city in the world.

It’s been awesome and I’ve grown even more fond of London since living here.
Therefore I thought I wouldn’t be impressed by Amsterdam, when I went back last week. But I was wrong, so wrong, because now I see Amsterdam in a different light. It’s the place where I’ve lived 11 years of my life, the place where I met my husband, where I learned to cook and went to uni, but above all Amsterdam is the place where my friends and family live. The people I love and miss so dearly sometimes.

Amsterdam is my first love (citywise then ;) ) and will always be.
Amsterdam is also the place where I can find all the ingredients to make my favourite Surinamese dishes and off course I brought loads back to London.

Like my favourite hot kecap manis from Helen which I use to marinade chicken and meat, as a dip sauce or as a basic ingredient when I’m making stir fry dishes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ate fresh herring with onions and pickles at the herring stall on Albert Cuyp Market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday night I had dinner at Indonesian restaurant ‘Kantjil en de Tijger’ in Amsterdam and I’m still dreaming of the bami Kantjil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course I had a Surinamese roti with vegetable and chicken curry, one of my absolute favourite dishes in the world! The best roti is obviously the roti made in Suriname, but Rooprams in Amsterdam is the best roti shop in the Netherlands! I even brought P some roti cause if I didn’t he wouldn’t let me in the house. That’s how crazy he is about this roti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bought ginger cheese, my absolute favourite, at famous cheese shop Reypenaers in Amsterdam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday I had a food stall on the Dutch Underground Farmers Market in Amsterdam which was absolutely lovely! I met some wonderful new people and I saw all my Twitter friends again.
A lot of them were selling their home made xmas cakes, cookies, raw food truffles, vanilla sea salt, pulled pork wraps, emapanadas, pork and fennel bangers and loads and loads more absolutely delicious stuff!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was really impressed by famous Dutch foodwriter Gert Jan Groothedde’s margarita ice cream with a salted shortbread cookie and his Xmas eggnog ice cream. It was too good ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Off course I took pictures of everyone’s stall but mine, but I had a great evening, wonderful response to my baguettes filled with Pom, pickles and hot sauce, which was sold out by 10.30pm.

I had a great, but very short, 5 days in Amsterdam and I cannot wait to go back. I cried my eyes out when my plane departed.

But I’ll be back in 6 weeks time for an insect dinner party where the main ingredients will be cockroaches, worms and larvae. Yum!