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Soto ayam is a chicken soup dish originated in Indonesia, but which is also popular in Malaysia and Singapore. This is a clear chicken soup coloured yellow with turmeric that contains loads of ingredients and condiments for flavouring. Turmeric is the ingredient that makes yellow, coupled with spices like cumin, fennel, star anise, and cinnamon, and there is no other chicken soup that comes close to it.

Ingredients:

For the The Dry Spice Mix:
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp white peppercorns
3 cardamom pods
5 cloves

For The Aromatics:
120g shallots
20g garlic
10g ginger
5cm length of fresh turmeric
1 bird's eye chilli
2 tbsp cooking oil

For The chicken Stock:
1.5kg chicken (either a whole chicken, jointed or portions like thighs)
2 tsp salt
2l water
1 piece of cassia (or cinnamon) bark
1 star anise
2 lemongrass stalks
5 kaffir lime leaves
5 tbsp coconut milk
1 tsp salt

Other Condiments:
120g rice vermicelli
50g bean sprouts
Fried shallots
Sliced red chilli
Coriander leaves, chopped
spring onion, chopped
1 hard-boiled egg, quartered
Shredded chicken meat from the chicken in (C)

Method:

Combine the dry spice mix ingredients in a spice grinder and render to a fine paste. Turn out onto a bowl to cool then set aside.

Combine the aromatics in a blender and process to a smooth paste. Mix together the aromatics and the dry spices in a bowl. Set aside until later

Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl, scatter over the salt and set aside to marinate for 12 hours.

At the end of this time pan-fry the chicken pieces in oil until nicely golden brown. Remove from the oil, transfer to a large pan or stockpot and cover with plenty of water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 60 minutes with all the chicken stock ingredients (except the coconut milk).

Once cooked and tender, remove the chicken pieces and set aside to cool until then can be handled. Strip the chicken meat from the bones, then shred the meat into small pieces (discard any skin and bones).

Strain the stock from cooking the chicken into a clean saucepan and bring to a boil. In the meantime, place a frying pan over medium heat. Use this to fry the spice paste for 2 minutes then stir in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add this mixture to the chicken stock and bring back to a boil.

To serve, place the rice vermicelli in the bowl. Topped with the shredded chicken meat, bean sprouts, and hard-boiled egg. Add the fried shallots, chopped spring onions, coriander leaves, and sliced red chilli.

Ladle sufficient chicken stock into the bowl and serve.