SOTO BANJAR (BANJAR CHICKEN CLEAR SOUP), SOUTH KALIMANTAN / BORNEO

Soto Banjar is a speciality chicken clear soup of Banjar ethnic, south Kalimantan, Indonesia. It’s main ingredients are a free-range chicken meat (daging ayam kampung), nutmeg (biji pala), clove, cardamom (kapulaga) and cinnamon as special fragnant spices. How to make it ? Here you are.


INGREDIENTS :

• ½ fresh free-range chicken meat (ayam kampung),

cut into 2 pieces

• 1 ½ tbsp sea salt

• 2 lt fresh water

GROUND SEASONING :

• 9 cloves of red onion/shallots (bawang merah), peeled and finely sliced
  

• 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced

• ½ nutmeg (biji pala)

• ½ tsp ground pepper (merica bubuk)

ANOTHER SEASONING:

• 4 clove fruits (cengkeh

• 3 cardamoms (kapulaga), bruised

• 1 inch cinnamon (kayu manis)

COMPLEMENTS :

• - ketupat (rice cake boiled in a rhombus-shaped pocket of plaited young coconut leaves)
• - potato rissoles

• 4 boiled eggs, cut into 2 or 4 pieces

• 75 gr dry sohun (transparent bean flour vermicelli, china), soaked with hot water about 10 minutes, drained and set aside.

• 1 stalk bawang daun (welsh’onion), finely sliced

• 3 stalks celery, finely sliced

• 3 tbsp fried red onion/shallots

• 2 lime fruits, cut into 2 or 4 pieces

• sweet ketchup

METHOD :

1. In stewpan, boil chicken with sea salt and 2 lt water until chicken meat tender. Remove, cool, and then shredded, set aside. Take broth for soto thin sauce.
2. With a mortar and pestle or blend, grind the ground flavor ingredients very finely.
3. Heat the cooking oil over medium high heat, sauté the ground flavor (point 2), stir it frequently until the mixture change color and becomes very fragrant, add another flavor and sauté until done.
4. Put all sauteed flavor (point 3) in stewpan with broth, simmer and stir them until become homogeneous mixture. Finish.

How to serve it ?. Usually soto Banjar serve with ketupat (rice cake boiled in a rhombus-shaped pocket of plaited young coconut leaves), cut ketupat into about 2 x 3 x 4 cm pieces.

Arrange ketupat, potato ressoles, sohun, cut eggs and shredded chicken meat in the bowl, spread sliced celery, sliced bawang daun (welsh’ onion), and then pour soto Banjar thin sauce (point 4). Add sweet ketchup and lime fruits juice, season to taste. Now, soto Banjar ready to serve.

Happy trying ? thank you.

(imangbasari@gmail.com.)