Recipe of the Week: Mee Soto (Indonesian Chicken Noodle Soup)

A different kind of chicken noodle soup! This one, Indonesian in origin. I used to eat mee soto at the school canteen during recess. A hot bowl of noodles, delicious spicy broth, shredded chicken and crunchy bean sprouts. Yum. Who doesn't like something you can slurp down in a couple of minutes and have your belly be all happy?

This wasn't an easy dish to replicate because of the large number of spices. So I'm just going to put it out there that this is the simplified version of Mee Soto!

Ingredients

(for broth)

8 cups of chicken broth

3 whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick

3 star anise

1 bay leaf

5 cardamon pods

2 stalks of lemongrass, snip tips off and bruise the bottom half

In a blender/ food processor, blitz the following ingredients together for spice mix (that goes in broth):

1" piece of ginger

1 tbsp of minced galangal (found this at Whole Foods)

4 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp ground coriander

1/2 tbsp tumeric

1 tbsp white peppercorns

1 small red onion

2 tbsp water

Shredded chicken

Egg noodles or vermicelli, blanched and set aside

Handful of bean sprouts

Hard boiled egg, quartered

Green onions or cilantro

Crispy fried shallots

Directions

In a large stockpot, heat 2 tbsp oil over medium heat. Add cloves, cinnamon stick, star anise, bay leaf, lemongrass, and cardamon pods; cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.

Add spice mix and cook till it is a little dry. Be sure to stir often so paste does not burn.

Add chicken broth and shredded chicken, bring to a boil then cover and simmer for at least 45 minutes.

To serve, place some noodles in a bowl topped with bean sprouts, eggs, and some crispy fried shallots. Ladle hot chicken broth over.