Cold, Frigid, Chillly, Soup, Soup, Soup!

Way back in September 2002, a family of five arrived in Columbus, Ohio, ready to settle down in a new town. They didn't know anyone, and the university family housing apartment they wanted to move into was not yet available. They were put on a long waiting list, and were told that the apartment would be available sometime in October. So they decided to find a temporary place until they could move into their new humble abode. Intown Suites, an extended stay, replete with a kitchenette was where they checked into and stayed until an apartment in the University Family Housing was available, alhamdulillah, a week later, way before October, sooner than expected.

We are that family. No longer a family of five, mind you, but a family of seven minus one, and we're still living in that humble abode. Been here for more than six years now, alhamdulillah.

But what does that have to do with the chicken soup in this post?

Well, it was at that kitchenette that I came up with this dish. I had a few dry ground spices, oil, raw chicken, and the usual onion and garlic. I wanted to make chicken soup, like here, but I thought I'd give it a new twist instead. So, I slathered the chicken pieces with the oily paste I concocted from the spices and oil I had on hand, and fried them. Then I proceeded to make the chicken soup as usual, except this time, I dunked in these fried chicken into the soup. The resulting soup was one that was pregnant with aromatic coriander and cumin specks floating in a thin clear steaming soup.

Suffice it to say, I was exhilarated with this new dish, whipped up mostly out of boredom and an intense need to settle down. This chicken soup has undergone a lot of changes throughout the years. This is the one I've carefully measured and noted down the ingredients for, and to this day, it is still unnamed. I suppose I'll call it the 'Unnamed Chicken Soup' until I come up with a good name for it (which might be never).

Unnamed Chicken Soup

Combine to make a wet paste:
2 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
2 tablespoon olive oil

10 chicken drumsticks/ equivalent of chicken parts, bone in

1 -3 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 medium - large onion, finely minced
4- 5 cloves garlic, finely minced or finely pounded
1-2 inch ginger, finely minced or finely pounded
3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick, broken
3 whole cloves
3 cardamom pods

4 medium carrots, thickly sliced/ 1 1/2 cups thickly sliced carrots
4 small-medium sized potatoes quartered
1 large round tomato, quartered
12 cups water
1 bunch vermicelli bean thread
1 cup roughly chopped parsley
salt to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Line a pan with aluminum foil and brush with about 1/2 tablespoon canola oil
3. Arrange chicken drumsticks/chicken parts on lined pan, and brush with wet paste until generously covered with it
4. Bake uncovered until juices run clear/chicken are done
5. Meanwhile, heat 1 -3 tablespoons canola oil and toss in onion, garlic, ginger, star anise, cinnamon stick, cloves, and cardamom pods
6. Saute until fragrant, about 2 -3 minutes, to coax the flavor of the onions, garlic and ginger out
7. Pour in the 12 cups of water and bring to boil
8. Dunk in the potatoes and carrots, immediately followed by the baked chicken pieces. (Soup will turn from crystal clear to brownish clear). Leave bubbling for 2 -3 minutes
9. Simmer until potatoes and carrots are fairly soft/done
10. Throw in a bunch of vermicelli bean thread and quartered tomato, keep heat on low
11. Salt to taste
12. Garnish with chopped parsley
13. Serve steaming hot in bowls with no accompaniments or with hot white rice

Serves 5 - 6 (with second helpings)


Cook's notes:

• Instead of frying the chicken, I bake them uncovered instead. It's inshaallah healthier and more merciful to the surface on your stove. Translation: less clean up! (Always a good thing)
• You can garnish with sliced green onions as well
  
• You can experiment with your own spice combination to make the wet paste
• You can also omit the vermicelli bean thread if you don't have it. It merely adds more texture and interesting content to the soup; floating transparent strands of soft vermicelli
• Eggy variations:
• Egg Strand: If you wish, you can add a beaten egg to the soup to produce a soup with strands of egg whites swimming amidst the many schools of vegetables and poultry
• To do so, beat one egg lightly and pour into the soup at Step 10, Stir soup to create the strands of cooked egg
• Poached Eggs: If you wish, you can also poach eggs directly in the soup, resulting in the addition of floating eggs as your additional source of protein.
• To do this, crack the desired amount of eggs into a bowl, and gently slide them into the soup one by one, 1 -3 minutes apart, in Step 8. Do NOT stir soup. Eggs will cook.
• This soup can be eaten alone, with white rice, or with noodles.

This soup is a welcome dish to ward off the chilly and somewhat gloomy aspect of winter in temperate climates. To have a continuous flow of hot soup laden with aromatic spices trickle merrily down your throat, sending much needed warmth to your almost frostbitten extremities ... has to be heavenly

My Grandmother's Legacy

I grew up getting used to eating animal organs, such as intestines, lungs, and liver. But that's about it. Tongue, brain, hooves, and others, that's where I draw the line, or is it because I was never served those growing up?

It's pretty common to see animal organs cooked in many ways in both Malaysian and Indonesian dishes, but I would say that I see more of animal's internal organs in Indonesian cuisine, most probably because of Indonesia's rich cultural diversity. My father says,

"You can find more good food in Indonesia than Malaysia."

By that he meant more variety. And of course! Because Indonesia is comprised of so many islands, thus many tribes, ethnic variations, cultures and food compared to Malaysia. My father was also born and raised Indonesian, which would explain the indignant loyalty. In some ways, I feel a sense of loyalty to Indonesia too, because I was raised mostly eating Indonesian food, as my grandmother was the main cook for quite a number of years during my childhood.



I have to say I love the texture and chewiness of cow's intestines. Cubed, they are actually the main ingredient of this dish my grandmother would make for occasions like Eid when we held our open house events. I don't think people balked at the prospect of eating cow intestines, for Indonesian food is also now pretty common in Malaysia. For the record, I personally don't like to draw a definite distinct line between Indonesians and Malaysians, because I believe that we're not that different, but when discussing food, cultural differences, (in my humble opinion) have to be discerned, for it adds to the appreciation and knowledge of the discussion.

Soto is a dish mainly comprised of clear thin soup with meat and vegetables, eaten with vermicelli and compressed rice cakes. In Malaysia, Soto Ayam is well known, and is what I remember purchasing for some of my iftars at the evening bazaar in Malaysia while I was in college. There are many kinds of Soto, but Soto Ayam is the only Malaysian Soto I ate in Malaysia. Years back, an Indonesian sister made Soto Betawi, which I still crave now (not knowing how to make it myself). That was my second Indonesian Soto, but I have come to realize that Indonesia is really rich and abundant with many varieties of Soto, most of which sound and look delicious!

I have to admit, I don't know how to prepare animal organs for cooking, and I can just imagine my children's disgusted expressions if I do, seeing that they already feel weak in their knees watching me handle raw chicken. So, in my years of living far away from family, here in the United States, I have substituted cubed beef for the cubed intestines, and the Somali Global Mall's Halal Store, which sells beef cut sukhaar-style makes it even more convenient for me, as I don't have to spend time cubing chunky slabs of meat.


Fill your bowl with some vermicelli and a few rice cakes, and ladle the steaming soup, making sure to get a generous amount of cubed potatoes, carrots and meat. Garnish with fried shallots, and a small but potent dash of hot and spicy kicap sambal (mainly comprising of sliced bird's eye chilli swimming in sweet thick soy sauce and made tangy with lemon juice), and you're good to go.

This remains one of my favorite comfort food.

The measurements below are merely estimates, but the ratio of the meat, potatoes, and carrots to each other should be about the same.

Soto Madura

Beef cut sukhaar (as much as the potatoes and carrots) - boiled in 8 cups of water till fairly tender to your taste (keep the stock)
4 potatoes, peeled and finely cubed and soaked in water
4 carrots, peeled and finely cubed and soaked in water
2 onions cut into chunks
7 cloves of garlic
1 -2 lemongrass stalk, bruised
2 -3 dried asam gelugor
2 bay leaves
3 tsp ground turmeric
2-3 Tbs ground coriander
oil
squirts of lemon juice
5-6 bird's eye chillies
sweet thick soy sauce (llook for Indonesian brands)
vermicelli
Nasi Himpit (compressed rice cakes) - a good explanation and recipe on Pahang Delights.


1. Blend 1 onion and 3-4 garlic cloves with turmeric, coriander, and lemongrass
2. Pound or blend the remaining onion and garlic separately
3. Heat oil in tall stock pot, and saute the blended onion and garlic in Step 2 till fragrant
4. Add the blended mixture in Step 1, and continue sauteing to draw out the flavor of the spices and bulbs
5. Dump in the potatoes and carrots and and saute them along for about 5 - 7 minutes
6. Add in the beef, and water and bring to boil
7. Add in the bay leaves, a few squirts of lemon juice, and salt to taste
8. Prepare the vermicelli by submerging them in hot water until they're soft, then drain them and set aside

To prepare the spicy Kicap Sambal:
9. Put in a blender the bird's eye chillies and enough sweet soy sauce so they would blend smoothly. Blend till chillies are thoroughly broken up, and add a few squirts of lemon juice


How do you eat it? (Like you would chicken noodle soup!)

1. Using a spaghetti server/tong, scoop one serving of vermicelli in an empty individual soup bowl. Add in a few cubed rice cakes.
2. Ladle the Soto, replete with potatoes, beef, and carrots over it, such that the white thin rice noodles are swimming in the pool of yellowish soup.
3. If you wish, top it with a teaspoon (or less, depending on your hot and spicy tolerance level) of spicy Kicap Sambal. (It is like the Somali Bizz Baazz).
4. Eat it with fork and soup spoon, or if you're feeling dexterous, chopsticks.

Potato Soup

Before I had my surgery I cooked myself up a batch of delicious potato soup to eat when I got home from the hospital! I didn't really follow a recipe and since I'm not really up to trying to remember how much of each thing I put in I'll just post a basic rough recipe which can be changed to ones liking. I like my soup a bit chunky, but you can blend it as well.

Ingredients:

3-4 tablespoons butter

1/2 large onion diced

4-5 meduim potatoes any variety, chopped into small to medium sized pieces

Salt, pepper, garlic powder and herbs (I used oregano, thyme and chives)

Water or Stock

Milk or cream or both

1. Heat the butter in a meduim saucepan and saute onions until translucent.

2. Add potatoes and saute lightly.

3. Add seasonings and water/stock enough to just cover potato.

4. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 mintues.

5. Add milk and/or cream and continue to simmer on low until desired consistency. Add enough to make it pretty thin because it thickens up as the potatoes finish cooking and after it cools.

Home Fries

I first fell in love with home fries after a couple of trips to Bob Evans with a few addict friends of mine ;)

Having cut down on eating out, I decided I would try to make them at home. Here's what you'll need:

- 5-6 large potatoes
- butter
- salt
- paprika
- pepper flakes
- garlic powder

Recipe:

1. Boil your potatoes on high heat for 10 minutes (only cook them half way, do not boil more!)
2. Remove from boiling water and wait for potatoes to warm, then chop into small pieces
3. add 1 teaspoon of salt, some pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon of paprika, and one tablespoon of garlic powder, mix thoroughly
4. Heat a non stick pan on medium-high heat, grease if necessary.
5. Add your home fries to the pan, and add 2 tablespoons of butter. Let it sit on medium-high heat until a gold brown colour is achieved, then leave it on low-medium heat.

This is best with pancakes and eggs!