CHICKEN SOTO WITH BEEF MEATBALLS

The celebration of Hari Raya is never complete without visiting friends and relatives, and of course good food. It is the season when friends and relatives drop by for Raya open houses, where festive goodies, ketupat, lemang and rendang are spread on the table for guests to enjoy. Aside from the usual Raya offerings, Soto is also a popular dish to serve during Raya open house. Soto is a traditional soup originating in Indonesia. It is made of broth, meat and vegetables, cooked with various spices and typically served with compact rice cubes (nasi himpit or ketupat) or rice vermicelli (bihun), and deep fried potato patties (begedil) or beef meatballs. There are lots of versions of Soto. This chicken soto recipe is a light chicken broth cooked with various spices to give you a wonderful aroma that tantalises the taste buds. What’s more, you can use ready-to-cook QL Figo Beef Meatballs, which are pre-cooked and frozen to lock in the nutrition and taste Serve it with nasi himpit or rice vermicelli for a complete meal, be it Raya open house gathering, or anytime through the year for a yummy feast! The ingredient list is quite long, but the cooking process is relatively easy, and the result is of course, delicious.

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Chicken Soto With Beef Meatballs

Prep time / Masa penyediaan:  30 mins

Cook time / Masa memasak:  35 mins

Total time / Jumlah masa:  1 hour / jam 5 mins

Serving for / Sajian untuk: 7

 

Ingredients / Bahan-bahan

• 2 chicken carcasses (cut into smaller pieces) + 500 g chicken breast (skin removed)
• 1 packet (500 g) QL FIGO Beef Meatball
• 1 tablespoon white peppercorn, pounded
• 2 litres water
• 2 chicken stock cubes
• 3 stalks lemongrass, crushed
• Salt to taste
• Cooking oil for sautéing and frying
• 100 g roasted or fried ground nuts
• 1 bowl of mung bean sprouts (taugeh), washed
• 50 g glass noodle (soo hoon or tang hoon), fried with hot oil and drained
• Fried shallots
• 3 stalks Chinese celery (daun sup), coarsely chopped
• 2 stalks spring onion, shredded
• Nasi himpit (compact rice cubes), cooked according to instructions on packet and cut into cubes
  
• To grind (A):
• 10 cloves garlic
• 10 shallots
• 2 inches ginger, sliced
• 1 inch fresh turmeric (or 1 teaspoon ground turmeric)
• 10 candle nuts
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground fennel
  
• Spices to sauté (B):
• 3 cm cinnamon
• 2 star anise
• 3 cloves
• 2 cardamom
  
• Soy sauce sambal (Sambal kicap):
• 10 – 15 bird’s eye chilies
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 – 5 tablespoons sweet soy sauce (kicap manis)
• Juice from 2 kalamansi lime
• 2 – 3 tablespoons soto broth

Instructions / Cara-cara

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a large pot or stock pot and sauté ground ingredients (A) until fragrant.
2. Add in spices (B) and continue to sauté for another minute. Pour in water and add chicken carcasses and breast, and stock cubes. Leave to boil.
3. Add pounded white peppercorns, lemongrass and salt (to taste), continue to simmer on low heat for another 15 – 20 minutes until chicken is thoroughly cooked.
4. Remove chicken breast from the pot and drain. Add in QL Figo Beef Meatballs (thawing not required). Let the broth continue to simmer on low heat.
5. Fry chicken with cooking oil until golden brown. Remove and drain off oil. When cooled, shred the chicken meat into smaller pieces.
6. To make soy sauce sambal, pound bird’s eye chilies together with garlic cloves into a coarse paste (not too fine). Transfer into a medium bowl and stir in sweet soy sauce, Soto broth and kalamansi lime juice.
7. To serve, arrange compact rice cubes in a deep plate, garnish with shredded chicken, bean sprouts, fried glass noodles, groundnuts and pour over hot broth and QL Figo Beef Meatballs.
8. Sprinkle with chopped Chinese celery, spring onion and fried shallots, serve immediately with soy sauce sambal.

QL Kitchen Tips

• You can also serve Soto with blanched rice vermicelli (bihun) in place of compact rice cubes.
• If you like a rich broth, you can add in 100 – 150 ml of thick coconut milk with the water.
• If you like your broth to have a stronger aroma, increase another teaspoon each of ground coriander, cumin and fenn