THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

(ok this post is way overdue. The event happened during fasting month)

THE GOOD.... For today’s break fast I thought of cooking Soto Ayam (Indonesian verision) for my family. Never attempt to cook this dish before so I’m thinking I got to do this right! The recipe I took was from http://en.petitchef.com/recipes/mom-series-soto-ayam-fid-478535. Now, the process of making this dish was not that hard. I recommend to anyone who would want to have a go to try out this recipe. Ones the spices kicks in, the aroma is just fantastic!

Mom Series: Soto Ayam

Soto Ayam is an Indonesian chicken soup. Very traditional and very delicious. Basically it's a yellow lemony chicken broth eaten with rice and a load of condiments. Apart from maybe a couple hard to find ingredients, depending on where you live, it is actually really simple to make.

This Mom classic might trump all others. I don't think anyone has ever disliked my Mom's Soto Ayam. Native Indonesians ask for the recipe because it is so good. Even when I started the "Mom Series" recipes I started to get requests for the Soto Ayam. Now believe it or not but Mom was a little apprehensive at first to blast her revered Soto Ayam secrets across the world wide web. I told her that if I post it will never be lost and generations from now our family can still make the best Soto Ayam ever. So here we go. (Note: All ingredients and quantities are as per Mom's recipe, however I did change the cooking technique very very slightly).

Recipe: (Serves 5-6)

4-5 lb whole chicken

4 cloves garlic

1 onion medium sized rough chop

2 kemiri nuts or candle nuts (macadamia nut can be used as a substitute) (optional)

1 large stock lemon grass

2 inches ginger cut or broken into 2 or 3 chunks

4 fresh kaffir lime leaves

1 tbsp turmeric powder

1 beef bouillon cube

2 tbsp canola oil

salt to taste

Remove skin and halve the chicken. Chop skin in to quarter sized pieces and dry with paper towel and salt liberally. Using a food processor puree kemiri, onion, and garlic. Heat a dutch oven or soup pot to high and add canola oil and chicken skin. Render the skin for 2 - 3 minutes and remove. (If you want chicken cracklings as a condiment reserve the rendered skin, deep fry at high heat 375 degrees F until crispy brown).

Add puree and stir, scraping up all the chicken bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Cook until the puree begins to stick to the bottom of the pan. Then add turmeric, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, and bouillon cube and cook for about a minute. Salt chicken liberally and add to the pot. Then add water until chicken in completely immersed. Turn heat down to a simmer once the water has come to a boil. Simmer until the chicken easily pulls away from the bone, about 1 hour .

Remove chicken from the soup. When chicken is cooled pull all the meat from the bones. (At this point the soup is done. It is your choice to serve the chicken separately as a condiment or add it back to the chicken. Mom always adds it back to the soup. I think it's better because the meat stays nice and moist.)

Add chicken back into the pot and add salt to taste.

Now Soto Ayam isn't Soto Ayam without the condiments. The condiments in a way make or break the soup. They add texture, flavor, and heat. Beside rice and sambal, every family in Indonesia has their own favorite combo of condiments. Below is a list of our family favorites.

Condiments:

Nasi himpit

fried red onions (buy at any oriental supermarket)

fried garlic (buy at any oriental supermarket) (optional)

bean sprouts

lime quartered

chicken cracklings (optional)

sambal oelek

Place all the condiments on a big platter next to the soup. Then assemble with all or non of the condiments. Any way you like it. That is how it is traditionally served.

Make it! Eat it! Enjoy!

THE BAD..... We had like 4 minutes till we break fast. I quickly laid out the condiments for the Soto Ayam and grab a cloth to carry the pot to the table when suddenly the cloth got stuck on the stove and causes the pot to tip to the left and spilled all over my hand! The only thing I did naturally was screamed. My SIL screamed as well and quickly grab toothpaste to swab my injured hand. Now at this moment it hasn’t sting so I manage to sit down and break fast. But within few minutes I felt it. The inflammation or burning was overwhelming so my SIL quickly drove me to the nearby clinic. The doctor cleaned up my hand and applied cream. She gave me pills for the pain and I went back. I couldn’t really finish my dinner so I cleaned up and went to sleep with one hand sticking out of the bed.

THE UGLY..... Woke up the next morning and ta-daaaaaa...... I’m now partly an elephant lady. The inflammation causes bubbles to appear on my skin which usually happens to burn injuries. Ok, it was pretty ugly bad looking and the pain was unbearable. So I ended up not fasting and continuously popping pills.

Had to go back to the doctor to pop the bubbles.

Now going back to THE GOOD..... the soto ayam tasted awesome. But don’t think I’ll be making another one anytime soon. I’ve gotten a bit paranoid cooking soupy dishes. Probably once this hand heals completely I’ll start cooking it again.

p/s: my recovering hand.....