Home > Soto Ayam Ambengan (Ambengan Chicken Soup)

Soto Ayam Ambengan (Ambengan Chicken Soup)

Posting Date: 09/10/17

Soto Ayam Ambengan (Ambengan Chicken Soup) originated in Surabaya. The name Ambengan came from the restaurant street name where it was located at. It is normally served with rice making it a full meal instead of soups. To make it light, you can skip the rice and serve it like soup, especially in cold winter days. The soup itself already has glass noodles, so it can fill your tummy. It is served topped with poyah which is made of shrimp chip powder. You can buy shrimp chips (kerupuk udang) in Asian stores. You will have to fry it before you can consume it. However, if you are looking for a shortcut, you can buy a bag of shrimp snack and it has already cooked. It is normally served with a side of chili sauce. I use sambal oelek as a shortcut. Some people may add drizzle of sweet soy sauce to make it sweet.

Indonesians also have another type of soto ayam, called Soto Ayam (Indonesian Yellow Chicken Soup). It is also served with rice. The soup itself uses hard boiled egg, tomato, and potato.

This recipe serves 4-5 people.

Ingredients:

4 hard boiled eggs
3 bunches of glass noodles, cooked according to package directions, drained after cooking, rinsed with cold water to prevent sticking to each other, drained, and set it aside to get rid of excess water
For spice paste: 3 large shallots or 9 small shallots, halved
For spice paste: 4 cloves of garlic, halved
For spice paste: 1 candlenut
For spice paste: 1" fresh ginger, sliced
For spice paste: 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 lemongrass, white part smashed with the back of knife and green part discarded
5 kaffir lime leaves. If you cannot find kaffir live leaves, you can substitute with zest from 1 lime.
3 boneless skinless chicken breast
1.5 liter water
1 tablespoon salt or to taste
1 tablespoon sugar or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
Optional (to make poyah): 20 g shrimp chips (kerupuk udang). You will have to fry it before you can use it. So, as a shortcut, I use shrimp snack instead since it has already been cooked.
Optional (to make poyah): 1 tablespoon fried slices garlic
Optional (to make poyah): 1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 green onions, sliced
lime wedges,
Optional: sweet soy sauce to taste
Optional: sambal oelek to taste

Methods:

Process shallots, garlic, candlenut, ginger, and turmeric powder in a food processor. Pulse it until it becomes smooth paste.
Place chicken breast and water in a pot and heat it over high heat. Let the water boil.
While waiting for the water in the pot to boil, heat up vegetable oil on a small pan over medium high heat. Add spice paste to the pan along with kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass stems. Saute it until it becomes fragrant and the shallots are cooked. Transfer the spice paste, kaffir lime leaves, and lemongrass to the chicken pot once the water in the pot is boiling. Reduce the heat and add salt, sugar, and pepper. Cook it until the chicken is fully cooked. Once the chicken is fully cooked, using the tongs, take the chicken out from the pot and shred it. Place shredded chicken back in the chicken pot. Let it cook for another 5 min. Taste and add more sugar, salt, or pepper if needed.
In the meantime, process shrimp chips, fried garlic, and salt in a food processor. Pulse it until it becomes powder. Transfer it to a small plate.
Turn off the heat. Discard kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass.
Slice hard boiled eggs and divide hard boiled egg and glass noodles into 4 bowls. Spoon the chicken soup into the bowl. Top it with sliced green onion, minced parsley, and lime wedge. Sprinkle it with poyah. If you want, serve it with sambal oelek and drizzle of sweet soy sauce.

All images, materials, and recipes on Indonesiancooking101.com are protected by copyright. Please do not use or republish the recipes, materials, or images without prior written permission from Indonesian Cooking 101. If you want to share this recipe, please share the link rather than the whole recipe.