Soto Betawi (Recipe)

This is a great traditional Indonesian beef soup that my Mum loves to make. It's always daunted me because with Indonesian food there's always a ton of spices to put in and honestly I'm just too lazy. But when I was in Brisbane, my sister in law made it and she said it was so easy and you don't need a lot of ingredients. So I searched the net for recipes and compared a few to see the similarities. I settled on this one and found it to be delicous! Now I can have Soto anytime I want :) No need to wait for Mama!

Tips: Find meat with a lot of sinew in it as it will make the tastiest meat in the soup. If you like in Singapore, you can find cheaper cuts of beef in the frozen meat section. You can also find tendon in the same section. If you choose to cook tendon, don't fret if you can't cut it with a knife...or anything else in your kitchen for that matter, because you're actually supposed to cut it after it's cooked, ie. after it become gelatinous. I also used a slow cooker for my soup, turned it on overnight and was ready for lunch the next day. Just remember not to cut your meat too small if you're using the slow cooker as it breaks down a lot and put the heat on low, not high. I cooked all the meat with the spices in the slow cooker, then when it was ready the next day I added the coconut milk and evaporated milk (instead of fresh milk so it was richer).