Soto Variation From Each Region of Indonesia

Hi guys, its Otto. Honestly, it is difficult for me to choose what to post on today’s blog, but then I asked myself what food that I want to eat now that cannot be satisfied and not for long, I thought of about Soto. Soto is a traditional Indonesian soup mainly composed of broth, meat and vegetables. Many traditional soups are called soto, whereas foreign and Western influenced soups are called sop.

History
In the Indonesian archipelago, soto is known by different names. In the local Javanese dialect, it is called soto, while in Pekalongan it is called tauto, and the dish also reached Makassar where it is called coto. Soto is found to be most prevalent in Java, and suggested that the hearty soup was originated from that island, and over the years this dish branched off in an assorted array of soto varieties.

Although soto was undoubtedly developed in the Indonesian archipelago and each region has developed its own distinctive soto recipes, some historians suggest that it was probably influenced by foreign culinary tradition, especially Chinese. Denys Lombard in his book Le Carrefour Javanais suggested that the origin of soto was a Chinese soup, caudo, popular in Semarang among Chinese immigrants during colonial VOC era, circa 17th century.

Another scholar suggests that it was more likely a mixture of cooking traditions in the region, namely Chinese, Indian, and native Indonesian cuisine.There are traces of Chinese influence such as the use of bihun (rice vermicelli) and the preference for fried garlic as a condiment, while the use of turmeric suggests Indian influence. Another example is soto betawi from Jakarta uses minyak samin (ghee), which indicates Arab or Muslim Indian influences.Another historian suggest that some soto recipe reflects the past condition of its people. Soto tangkar, which today is a meat soup, was mostly made from the broth of goat rib-cage bones (Betawi:tangkar) in the past because meat was expensive, or the common population of Batavia were too poor to afford some meat back then.[10] Soto recipes has been highly localized according to local tradition and available ingredients, for example in Hindu-majority island of Bali, soto babi (pork soto) can be found, since Hindu Balinese prefer pork while beef is seldom consumed, they also do not shared Indonesian Muslim halal dietary law that forbid the consumption of pork.

The meat soup dish influenced various regions and each developed its own recipes, with the ingredients being highly localized according to available ingredients and local cooking traditions. As a result, rich variants of soto were developed across Indonesia.
Since there are a lot varieties of soto in Indonesia, however, I like the one that is from my hometown and one from a city called Makassar.

Now let me show you the difference of some soto in Indonesia.


Soto Betawi - mainly consisting ofoffal in creamy milk or coconut milk soup, from Jakarta



Soto Madura – usually eaten with rice and served with egg, from Madura.



Coto Makassar – beef soto with different style from another soto



Soto Kaki Mencos (cow's foot tendons soto), a Betawi specialty.

And take a look of how to make a simple Soto Ayam with this video (its difficult to find English version of the video but i managed it )