Soto Babat - Indonesian Beef Tripe Soup

Don't get bored if I'm posting another soup today. A week ago, it still felt like fall, but as of three days ago, snow has made everywhere white. I guess Manitoba will have a white Christmas this year.

A short cut to make this soto babat was a yellow broth that I kept frozen. However, I will post the correct way to prepare soto babat.

What is soto babat? I keep saying it, but haven't explained it clearly. Soto means any meat/chicken broth soup. It can be with or without coconut milk. Babat is the Indonesian word for beef tripe.

Let's see how good my memory is to name varieties of soto in Indonesia...
Soto Ayam (Chicken Soto)
Soto Daging (Beef Soto)
Soto Lamongan (Lamongan style Soto)
Soto Betawi (Jakarta style Soto)
Sroto (Pekalongan style Soto)
Soto Medan (Medan syle Soto)
Oppsss too many, I can't remember all.

I am glad that I didn't have to scrub the hell out of the tripe before cooking it, since it is sold clean at the stores here. Some recipes for soto babat call for coconut milk. For me, there is already too much cholesterol in the tripe, so no coconut milk this time.

Feel free to substitute tripe for beef or chicken chunks, if you don't like tripe.


Soto Babat
- Beef Tripe Soup -

Ingredients:
500 g beef tripes
1/2 L water
4 Indonesian bay leaves
4 kaffir lime leaves, tear
2 lemon grass, take the white parts and bruise
1/4 tsp corriander seed
1/2 leek, take the white parts and slice
2 tbsp oil
1 1/4 L homemade broth (you can use either beef or chicken)
ground white pepper as desired
salt and sugar to season

Spices (Rempah) to grind:
3 shallots
2 garlics
3 candlenuts
2 cm length ginger, peeled
1 tsp turmeric powder

Complements:
1 cup bean sprouts, blanched
200 g potato, peeled, thin sliced and deep-fried => to make chips
1 bulb garlic, thin sliced and fried
Chinese celery leaves, chopped
lime
sambal rawit (bird's eye chili sambal)

Directions:
1. Bring water to boil. Add tripe,2 Indonesian bay leaves, 2 kaffir lime leaves, corriander seed and 1 lemongrass. Cook for 30 minutes. Drain and cut as desired.

2. Stir fry rempah, 2 Indonesian bay leaves, 2 kaffir lime leaves, 1 lemongrass and leek until fragrant.

3. Add sliced tripe, stir until mixed. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Season with salt, sugar and white pepper.

Serving:
In a bowl, add bean sprouts and tripe with the broth. Sprinkle over chips, fried garlic and Chinese celery leaves. Serve with sambal rawit and lime.