Soto Bebek Bakar (Grilled Duck Soup)

The temperature dropped to -12 this morning, it was definitely too cold for my comfort. The view from the window looked grey and doomish. There are two activities I do during a cold Saturday like this; do chores and cook comfort food. I looked around my apartment and subjectively judged that my apartement is still tolerably(ish) clean. I don’t see any cockroach passing by yet so I am good to go for another week. It means, there’s only one activity left to do : Cooking something comforting and warm like sotos (soups).

Suddenly my Saturday was fully planned; make soto, watch the Black List series marathon on netflix, make some buttercookies for afternoon binge, have some Chai Lattes, continue netflixing, and all these can be done in pyjama. Brilliant!

I checked up my site and realized I don’t cook much of duck meat. I think its about time I cook duck meat again. Fortunately I have a complete duck thigh in the fridge. I found duck meat very interesting. Its more chewy from chicken, and somehow it seemed that flavor doesn’t get absorbed very well into the meat unless I cook it for hours. Good thing I have the whole day to cook today. So lets begin our Duck Soto-making adventure!

Ingredients for Bebek Bakar (Grilled Duck):

1 complete duck leg (upper and lower thigh)

500 ml coconut water (I used a canned one)

2 Salam leaves (Indonesian bayleaf)

2 cm fresh galangal

1 tsp salt

75 gula jawa (you can use Ketjap Manis, adjust the sweetness tho)

Ingredients to paste:

3 shallots (5 bawang merah)

2 garlic

1 tsp coriander seed

 Cooking steps:

1. Using mortar pestle (or electronic food processor), paste shallots, garlic and coriander seed until it becomes a chunky paste,
2. Prepare your best pot on the stove, crank the heat to medium. Put coconut water, salam leaves, galangal, salt and gula jawa, stir slowly until the gula jawa is completely melted. Add the duck leg and continue cooking until the duck meat becomes tender enough to your liking. 
3. Once its ready, grill it on bbq until the skin gets that sexy bbq lines, then set aside and let it cool. When its cool enough, shred it with forks.

Meanwhile, lets start the soto. Off we go!

Ingredients for Soto:

1.500 ml chicken stock (I used dehydrated chicken stock cubes with the same amount of water)

2 cm fresh ginger, bruised

1 lemon grass, bruised

1 1/2 tsp salt (if your chicken broth is already salty, adjust the salt according to your taste)

1/4 tsp white pepper powder

oil for sautée

Ingredients to paste:

3 shallots (5 bawang merah)

2 cm fresh turmeric 

Toppings:

Blenched bean sprouts

Steamed rice

Thinly sliced scallion

Wedges of lime (optional)

Sambal (optional)

Cooking steps

1. Using mortar pestle (or electronic food processor), paste shallots and turmeric until it becomes a nice smooth paste,
2. On a pot, sautée the paste with oil until aromatic. Add chicken stock, ginger, lemon grass, salt, and white pepper powder. Continue cooking until it boils. 

Serving steps:

1. Prepare your prettiest bowl because food served on cute plate or bowl tends to taste better, put the blenched bean sprout on the bottom of the bowl, 
2. Pour the soto gently into the bowl. If you find that the soto is not clear enough (chunks of pasted ingredients swimming around), pour it through a sieve,
3. Put a generous amount of the shredded grilled duck on top and sprinkle the sliced scallion,
4. Serve with a bowl of steamed rice, wedges of lime and sambal aside. 

Et voila! Enjoy!