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!

When I was on the elementary school the canteen served lunches for kids like me who doesn't bring lunch from home. The menu was of course Indonesian menu like soto, tempeh, tofu, lontong isi (rice cake with meat filling), nasi goreng (fried rice), mie ayam (chicken noodle), etc. My mom got me the basic set of menu which was either soto or lontong isi. It was pretty good, altho on the age I was, I definitely would prefer a bag of chips and chocolate wafer anytime. 

I had soto for lunch at least three times a week. Yeah it was a bit mundane if you think about it but I didn't care, I just ate quickly and rushed quickly to the playground. I didn't even know what kind of soto it was, all I know it was soto ayam (chicken soup). After six year eating the soup for lunch, the taste of it was kinda imprinted on my palate. I remember how light and salty the broth was also the hint smell of garlic and the juicy piece of chicken. After I graduated I never eat that kind of soto anymore. I thought it was the canteen lady's trademark soto. 

Last night I was talking to one of my best friends, she was sharing her idea of opening a business selling her hometown's famous soto; Soto Sokaraja. She explained to me how tasty the broth is and how much she loves it. The Soto can be made with either chicken or beef. It served with boiled egg and rice cake. I got really curious about the soto, unfortunately she hasn't got the time to write me her family recipe. I bet her recipe is so good that she is convinced to make a business out of it and I can't wait to taste it. 

I found a recipe of the soto on one of my cooking books and I gave it a try. It was pretty simple to make too. I was totally surprised that the soto is actually tastes exactly like my school canteen's soto!! I wasn't expecting it but it surely was a lovely surprised. Every spoon of it reminds me of my elementary school events. Ahh.. that innocent age where my biggest problem in live were homeworks and deciding what cartoon channel to watch on Saturday morning. 

Soto Kediri or Soto Tamanan is a coconut milk based chicken soup from Kediri, East Java. Okay, I know what you think, this is my fifth soto recipe, but what can I say, we do have a lot of soto variations and its all yummy. I must admit tho, the basic ingredients and even the toppings from one chicken soto to another are almost the same. The twist lays on one or two particular spices, but believe me that tiny twist gives huge different in taste. 

From Nangbus' Kitchen

The recipe for today is a traditional soup recipe from Tana Toraja (my beloved homeland). This soup is one of the most popular dish in traditional celebrations. It is easy to cook this soup and it uses common ingredients. Nowadays we can find this dish as one of everyday meals in Tana Toraja. 

I personally love to have it when I am not feeling well, especially when I am having cold or fever. Its not only it brings home comfort, but also its actually good for your health. 

Don't be intimidated by the floating chillies on the picture, trust me, its not that spicy, especially if you put the whole chillies (without cutting it) and you put it at the end of cooking. 

For this particular recipe, I am using the chicken that bred and raised in the country side (like my grandma used to do). The chicken mostly a bit skinny and less fatty. its growth-hormon free chicken. 

The spices; like the ginger, lemon grass, chillies and pepper in the soup gives you this warm and comfort feeling on everyspoon. Perfect for cold weather.

For this particular recipe, we both tried it on our kitchens at the same day, and both turned out awesome!! We always try our recipes at both kitchens before we upload it, just to make sure its worth the taste and easy to do. We did had fun mocking each other when one of us failed, and there are also tons of moments where we grief together wondering what went wrong when we couldn't nail a recipe. Cooking is fun!!

Yep this is another Indonesian soto recipes. On winter like this, I do prefer to eat soupy hot meal, especially where I live it can go to lower than -25 C outside, yeah, the weather can be nasty in this part of the world but it makes a good season to try out soup recipes.

Today's soto comes from Medan. The capital of North Sumatra province in east Indonesia. Cuisine from this region, or let say from this island itself (Sumatra) is famous for its spiciness and hotness. This soto in particular, tastes like light curry. Rich in flavor. The broth is made of diluted coconut milk, which is perfect to my taste, it makes it less heavy and fatty plus it served with a squirt of lime juice which gives the fresh taste to it.

Today's recipe is another recipe on Indonesian soup (soto), but this time the soup comes from an area near my home town; Makassar, South Sulawesi. The locals call it Coto Makassar. This soto is actually easy to make, but if you are an Indonesian abroad, it will be a bit tricky to find the ingredients for the soup since the main ingredients of this soup is cow innards like such as intestine, lungs, tripe, liver and heart. I noticed that some people, especially in Europe and North America don't eat cow innards, they even consider it as 'trash'. What a pitty, little that they know, these ingredients are actually eatable and yummy. The thing is you have to clean it properly under a running water and cook it with lots of spice to remove its strong smell. 

This recipe might not be the authentic from my Great Great Great Grandmother nor a five star's hotel special recipe, but don't worry, the taste is as close as the real coto Makassar you find in Makassar. This is one is from my top list recipes for cold days in winter.  

  

Here is another post of soto recipes! This time is a version of soto Ayam (Indonesian clear chicken soup). There are countless versions of soto ayam, the main ingredients are mostly the same, the one that makes it different from one to another is usually the kind of spices that you put in it. Soto Banjar is origin from Banjar ethnic from East Kalimantan but this soto is easy to be found on a street vendor almost everywhere in big cities in Indonesia. 

Basically this soto is a clear chicken soup with a hint of spices flavour. I remembered when I was still in elementary school, this is one of my favorite lunch menu on our humble canteen. It was simply a bowl of clear broth, rice, few strings of chicken (yeah strings, my lunch was that cheap!), a quarter piece of boiled egg, finely chopped cabbage and beansprout. It was dang good! One of simple stuff that made my childhood full of memories. 

This traditional Indonesian soup originally from the region of middle Java. Basically, Tongseng is mutton or beef stew dishes in curry-like brownish soup with vegetables and addition of Ketjap manis or Indonesian sweet soy sauce. In Indonesia, the best place to get this soup is from the street vendors. Its guaranteed to be tasty since each vendor has their own secret ingredients and its easy to get. You can find one of these vendors on almost every corner in Java.

I couldn't find mutton in my fridge today so I use beef meat to make this tongseng. I had a pretty bad craving of this soup lately. Usually tongseng is spicy since the spices has to balance out the strong flavor of the mutton. Yummmm... I just love spicy food. For those of you out there that is not such a big fan of spicy food, don't worry, you can adjust the spiciness to your taste without ruining the real taste of tongseng

I am a huge fan of sotos. As you might have noticed, soto is classic Indonesian soup, very aromatic and rich in flavour. We can eat it as main meal with a bowl of rice, or as an appetizer. Its all only in the matter of serving portion. Today I decided to make a soto with coconut milk infused and a bit more spices that I  usually put in my sotos.  

For those Indonesian-food enthusiasts, I am sure you've read (and tried) many recipes from Java and or Sumatra. Today I would introduce you to another great food from another part of Indonesia; Tanah Toraja, South Sulawesi - my beloved home town. If you are wondering how it tastes like, there is a cooking alike from Surabaya (east java), called rawon, both stew has black broth and using almost identical spices. The best way to cook it is in big quantity and let it stew for awhile so the spices blends into the broth... yummm.. This soup really takes my memory back to my faraway hometown :) 

Lately I got this binge of eating meatballs. It takes a bit of effort in making it, but its totally worth it. The best part is you can freeze them and use it anytime you want. Tonight I made chicken meatballs with shredded nori (seaweed sheet) in a clear japanese soup. 

Soto means soup in my language. There are tons of soto variations recipe in Indonesian cuisine. Its considered as one of our comfort foods. Almost every region in Indonesia has their own soto recipe and highly influenced by the availability of local ingredients and cooking traditions. Today, I decided to try a soto recipe from Sumatra island, its called Soto Padang. The bouillon is so rich in spice, it just perfect and comforting in this cold, snowy season.