Laksa Soto Food

LAKSA

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper (we used white pepper, but you can also use black pepper), and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
• While the chicken is cooking, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large saucepan or medium pot over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute. Add the minced lemongrass and chilies, and cook for 3 minutes.
• Add the laksa paste and brown sugar. Fry for another 3 minutes, letting all the flavors meld together. Add the chicken stock, coconut milk, and fish sauce. Bring to a boil. Add the soy puffs, cover, and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, rinse the noodles in warm water (for cooked hokkien noodles or rice vermicelli) or prepare according to package instructions (for fresh or dried wheat noodles). Distribute among four large noodle soup bowls.
• Shred the cooked chicken and skin and distribute among the bowls. Pour any juices from the roasting pan into the broth. (You can even use a little bit of warm water to scrape any lingering tasty bits off the parchment paper).
• Season the broth with lime juice and more fish sauce to taste, until your broth has reached your desired levels of saltiness/sourness. If you would rather not use fish sauce as your salting agent (it can be quite pungent to some palates), season with salt instead.
• Meanwhile, toss the thinly sliced shallots in flour until they're lightly coated. In a cast iron pan, heat an additional 2 tablespoons oil. Fry the shallots until crispy and set aside.
• Season the shrimp with salt and pepper and sear them in the same oil you used to cook the shallots, just until they're cooked through.
• To assemble the laksa, pour the broth over the noodles and chicken, and add a couple pieces of soy puff to each. Top with the cooked shrimp, bean sprouts, cilantro, and fried shallots. Serve with extra lime wedges, and enjoy!

INDONESIAN CHICKEN SOUP WITH NOODLES, TURMERIC AND GINGER (SOTO AYAM)

Steps:

• Place chicken in a medium pot with lemongrass, lime leaves (if using), salt and 2 quarts water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Skim off any foam and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 45 minutes, skimming as needed to make a clear broth. Remove chicken pieces from broth and set aside. Remove and discard lemon grass and lime leaves; reserve stock in pot. When chicken is cool enough to handle, discard skin and bones and shred meat into bite-size pieces.
• Meanwhile, combine peppercorns, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a small food processor. Pulse until ground. Add halved shallots, garlic, turmeric and ginger and pulse to a thick paste. (Add a little water if needed.)
• Heat peanut oil in a medium saucepan over high heat. When very hot, add spice paste and cook, stirring until paste is cooked and beginning to separate from the oil, about 5 minutes.
• Add cooked spice paste and chicken meat to stock. Bring to a simmer and cook 10 minutes.
• Cook noodles according to package directions.
• Turn off heat under soup and stir in lime juice. Taste for salt.
• To serve, divide noodles in large soup bowls. Ladle chicken pieces and soup on top and sprinkle with celery leaves or herbs, and fried shallots, if using. Pass lime and sambal at the table.
• Eat from soup bowl, or serve a scoop of rice on a side plate, sprinkled with more shallots, and put a mouthful of noodles and chicken on rice. Combine on a spoon, dab with sambal, and eat.

LAKSA

Steps:

• Boil chicken and/or seafood to make stock. If you're using tofu, then deep-fry tofu. Drain.
• Make laksa paste. Spices are best ground on the stone mortar and pestle to form laksa paste. It is best to start working from the coriander seeds and add one ingredient at a time once the spices form a smooth paste. Add dashes of salt to make the tougher ingredients (e.g. chili, lemongrass, garlic) easier to grind. If you don't have stone, you can also use the food processor. If possible, avoid adding water to the laksa paste.
• Heat enough oil in a saucepan to cover laksa paste. Stir-fry laksa paste, basil leaves, and knotted lemongrass till fragrant then add chicken/seafood/tofu.
• Add stock and slowly bring to boil over low heat.
• Add coconut milk, stir, and simmer.
• Boil noodles and drain. Add sesame oil and set aside.
• Serve immediately with noodles and garnish.

BIKA AMBON

Steps:

• Put thick coconut milk in a small saucepan and bring to a low boil over very low heat. Remove and leave aside to cool completely.
• Combine lukewarm water, flour and instant yeast in a small bowl and leave aside to froth.
• Mix both flours, sugar, coconut water, egg yolks, essence and salt in a mixing bowl.
• Add fermented yeast mixture and the cooled coconut milk to mix.
• Leave mixture aside, covered with a damp tea towel to ferment for 2-3 hours.
• Turn batter into a lightly greased tray and bake in preheated oven at 200°C and bake until the top of the cake is golden brown.