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Soto Ayam Medan (Chicken Soup in Coconut Milk) – Chicken soup cooked with herbs, spices, and coconut milk originated from Medan. Served with shredded chicken meat, perkedel (potato fritters), and chili
Soto ayam medan is a yellow (almost greenish) chicken soup that is normally served with rice and potato pancakes. The greenish color is contributed by the yellow from turmeric and the white from coconut milk along with other aromatic herbs and spices. It may not look much from the photo, but it is so very delicious and incredibly flavoful. I grew up with soto ayam and this reminded me of dad who often brought us to this little shop that is famous for its soto ayam.
Soto ayam is very popular street food at my hometown in Medan. It is usually served with potato pancake or perkedel kentang along with kecap manis and chili. Without these two, soto ayam is never the same. This wonderful recipe is from my mom’s friend, who is a great great cook. Thank you!!
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Soto Ayam Medan (Chicken Soup in Coconut Milk)
Ingredients
- 4-5 chicken thighs (skin removed)
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 block chicken bouillon
- 1 cup coconut cream (you can replace with whole cow's milk, but I don't recommend using low fat or fat-free)
- Salt and Sugar to taste
Toppings:
- 2 Roma Tomatoes seeded and chopped
- Small bunch of Chinese celery leaves (chopped)
- 2 hard-boiled eggs quartered
- ⅓ cup crispy fried shallots
- 2 cups Beansprouts (blanched)
Paste:
- 4 cloves garlic
- 7 shallots
- 4 candlenuts omit if you don't have any
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp of chopped ginger
Other herbs and spices:
- 4 bay leaves
- 3 Kaffir lime leaves
- 4 cardamom pods
- 3 cloves
- 1 stalk lemongrass bruised with heavy object
Chili sauce:
- 50 gr long green chili or use serrano peppers
- ¼ tsp salt
Served with:
- Perkedel kentang (potato fritters)
- Kecap manis for drizzling
Instructions
Preparing paste:
- Put all ingredients you need to grind in a food processor except for turmeric powder. Process into a paste and then add the turmeric powder. That way you won't stain your food processor bowl.
Preparing chili:
- Boil the chili in a boiling water until soft, about 5 minutes. Discard water and process into a smooth paste or roughly chopped if you prefer. Add in salt to taste. Can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 week
Preparing the soup:
- Bring about 4 cups of water to a boil. Put in chicken pieces and lower the heat to simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside. Save the liquid and shred the meat when cool enough to handle
- In a meantime, heat up some oil in a large pot and stir-fry the paste you prepared earlier, cardamom, cloves, and lemongrass until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Put in bay Leaves and kaffir lime leaves and continue stir-frying for few minutes until fragrant
- Pour in the liquid from cooking the chicken and chicken broth and let it cook for about 15 minutes. Strain off the liquid and discard the solids. Add in coconut cream and let it heated through but do not let it boil. Have a taste and season with more salt and pinch of sugar to your taste. It should be savory
Serving:
- When ready to serve, portion the shredded chicken meat, bean sprouts, diced tomatoes, in a individual serving bowl. Laddle the hot soup over. Garnish with celery leaves, crispy shallots, hard-boiled eggs. Serve with rice, chili sauce, and perkedel
4 comments
Made it with great success using my thermomix.
yay!! 🙂
Hi there,
Just wanting to confirm if the beansprout (2 cups blanched) is actually part of the paste ingredients or separate as toppings? It is listed as part of the paste, but I just had to ask since it feels kinda weird to mix the beansprout with the other paste ingredients…please clarify.
Thank you kindly
Hi Gita,
Sorry the bean sprouts should be under toppings not part of the paste. It’s an error that I forgot to move it under topping when I typed it.