Javanese Chicken Soup



I’ve been waiting for a co-worker (this means you, Walt) to set me up with some delicious Indonesian recipes but got impatient, so we adapted the following from a recipe in the old standby, Great Bowls of Fire. I’m not sure how close it is to traditional recipes, but we both really enjoyed this soup flavored with lime, coconut milk, peanut butter, and ginger.

Chris says:

Oooh, I love this. Not at all similar to the other soups and stews we’ve made from GBOF.

Lisa says:

It’s definitely different — I can really taste all the different flavors: the salty, the sweet, the spicy… you don’t need to add anything! It’s deceptively rich, too. So good!

Chris says:

If this is anywhere close to “real” Indonesian, sign me up!

Javanese Chicken Soup
———————
2 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 lb boneless chicken breast, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ginger root, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup snow peas
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 cup canned light coconut milk
1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup kecap manis
Juice of 2 limes
2 tsp sambal
2 whole scallions, chopped
1.75 oz cellophane noodles

In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until slightly browned and fully cooked, about 7 minutes. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, heat the other tbsp of oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger, and cook, stirring for 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth, snow peas, cumin, coriander, and cooked chicken and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the coconut milk, peanut butter, kecap manis, lime juice, sambal, and scallions and bring to a simmer.
Stir the noodles into the soup and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
Ladle into bowls and serve with additional scallions and sambal.

6 Servings


7 responses to “Javanese Chicken Soup”

  1. This looks like a soup that really packs in the flavor! I love everything that it has going for it especially the peanuts.

  2. Thanks Andy — yeah, we loved the complex flavors. Lisa was a big fan of the peanuts from the chunky peanut butter.

  3. Wow, I’m (in)famous – okay, okay … I’ll double my efforts to get my wife to offer up a “real” Indonesian recipe, and I’ll ask her to take a gander at this one and provide some color commentary.

  4. Mmm, yum! Made this tonight, and it was excellent! Though I disagree that it was six servings, as the book says. More like four, if you’re lucky! Or maybe I’m just a pig. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *