Soto Mie

Here comes... the month of June.
It's the time when Jakarta becomes more colorful, sparkling and full of festivals.
On 22 June 2012, this metropolitan city will celebrate it's 485th anniversary and the theme for this year is "Jakartaku, Harapanku" (~"My Jakarta, My Hope"). There will be several activities linked to this anniversary, including art and culture festivals and Jakarta Great Sale Festival.



Since we moved to Jakarta 3 years ago, we never get bored to visit the culture festivals in this colorful city. Learning the culture and the history, and also enjoying the rich culinary are the interesting parts to be explored through the festivals.
The iconic festival that is held every year is the "Jakarta Fair".  It runs for 1 full month!





One of the cultural festivals that we visit regularly is Festival Palang Pintu (~Door Portal Festival). It's an annual event that is held in Kemang Area, South Jakarta, with the main goal to preserve Betawi Culture. During this two days event, majority portion of Kemang Raya Street will be closed, and the festival will take place along this Kemang main street. Some stages are built for traditional and modern performances; the street performances, games and bazaar will be held at the same time. Crowded? Yes, for sure.
But, it's an indication of a successful festival, isn't it?

I prefer to visit this festival in late afternoon until early night, on Saturday (first day). For me it's the perfect time as weather is not too hot anymore, less crowd, and... because it's still a day-light, it's perfect to watch the performances, and also for taking pictures.

Enjoying the festival would be incomplete without trying the authentic traditional Betawi food. Walking around while occasionally stop-by to enjoy street foods is a big opportunity that we can get here, because most of the traditional street food are available around the festival area.
All the festival's pictures above and below were taken during the Festival Palang Pintu in Kemang, last year.
Interesting to visit and join the crowd... next weekend,
on 9-10 June 2012, the next Festival Palang Pintu will be happening.
Check this link for more information.



Since it is Jakarta’s anniversary, I think it’s the right time to rediscover some of the city’s traditional dishes. So this month I'll be posting some of traditional Betawi Street Food recipes. They are popular, because they are delicious, cheap, and hmm, actually it's not hard to prepare in our kitchen.
There are two Betawi dishes that I posted before, Soto Betawi and Bir Pletok.

Now, I have decided to post Soto Mie Recipe.
One of the popular street food, that can be easy to find around the corners thorughout the city.
Because of the influence from other cultures, including China, Arab, and Malay, Betawi Culinary have many variety type of food. Soto Mie was probably created under Chinese influence.
Soto refers to traditional Indonesian soup and Mie means noodle (from a Chinese word). Here in Jakarta, soto mie are served in one bowl all together; yellow noodle, sliced cabbage, tomato wedges, beef, simple spring rolls that covered with hot delicious 'clear' beef soup and sprinkled with sliced spring onion and fried onion. Sweet soy sauce and chili sauce are the complement for the mouth-watering dish.

Using daily ingredients that normally available in kitchen and also easy to find in traditional markets, I didn't find any difficulty to prepare this dish for my family dinner.
The fresh flavor from the lime juice and lime leaves really give a fragrant aroma to soup, warming our body from the cold weather. So yummy!

Soto Mie
Bahan / Ingredients :
300 gr daging sapi / 300 gr beef
2000 ml air, untuk merebus daging / 2000 ml water, to boil the meat
8 lembar daun jeruk / 8 lime leaves
2 batang serai, memarkan / 2 lemongrass, crushed
2 sdt garam / 2 tsp salt
3 sdm minyak goreng / 3 tbsp cooking oil
1 sdt gula pasir / 1 tsp sugar
3 batang daun bawang, iris 3 cm / 3 spring onion, sliced 3 cm

Bumbu Halus / Spices (ground) :
3 cm jahe / 3 cm ginger
3 sdt merica / 3 tsp white pepper
5 siung bawang putih / 5 cloves garlic
12 butir bawang merah / 12 scallions

Bahan Isi / Dish Ingredients: 
400 gr mie basah, siram air panas, tiriskan / 400 gr wet (yellow) noodle, pour hot water, drained
100 gr kol, iris 1/4 cm / 100 gr cabbage, sliced 1/4 cm
2 batang daun bawang, iris tipis / 2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 batang seledri, iris tipis / 2 celery, thinly sliced
4 buah lumpia goreng, potong-potong / 4 spring rolls, sliced
4 sdt air jeruk limau (sesuai selera) / 4 tsp lime juice
2 sdm bawang goreng, untuk taburan / 2 tbsp fried onion, for serving

Pelengkap / Complement :
2 sdm kecap manis / 2 tbsp sweet soy sauce
sambal cabai rawit / chili sauce

1. Cuci daging hingga bersih, masukkan ke dalam panci berisi air, jerang di atas api, masukkan daun jeruk, serai dan garam, masak hingga mendidih. Kecilkan api, tutup panci, masak hingga dagin setengah matang, angkat.

2. Keluarkan daging dari panci, tiriskan. Potong-potong daging ukuran 1/2x1x2 cm, lalu masukkan kembali ke dalam panci kaldu, jerang kembali di atas api.

3. Panaskan minyak goreng, tumis bumbu halus hingga harum, angkat, masukkan ke dalam panci kaldu. Bubuhkan gula dan masak terus hingga daging lunak dan kaldu tinggal 1000ml. Masukkan daun bawang dan masak kembali hingga mendidih.

4. Penyajian: Masukkan mie, kol, daun bawang, seledri, tomat dan lumpia ke dalam mangkuk saji. Siram dengan kuah panas berikut dagingnya. Bubuhkan air jeruk limau dan taburi bawang goreng. Hidangkan panas dengan pelengkap kecap manis dan taburi bawang goreng. Hidangkan panas dengan pelengkap kecap manis dan sambal cabai rawit.



1. Clean/wash the meat thoroughly, put in a pan of water, boil on fire, put lime leaves, lemon grass and salt, and cook until boiling. Reduce heat, cover pan, and cook until half cooked, remove from heat.

2. Remove meat from pan and drain. Cut the meat into pieces 1/2x1x2 cm size, and put back into the pan of stock, heat back on fire.

3. Heat oil, saute ground spices until fragrant, remove and insert it into the stock pan. Put the sugar and cook until the meat is tender and the stock about 1000ml. Add the leeks and cook until boiling again.

4. Presentation: Put noodle, cabbage, green onions, celery, tomatoes and slices spring rolls to a serving bowl. Pour with the boiling soup and some meat. Put a lemon juice and sprinkle with fried onions. Serve hot with soy sauce and sprinkle with fried onions. Serve hot with soy sauce and chili sauce.