Soto (food) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids
*Soto*
Soto ayam or chicken soto, with yellow coconut milk broth, the slices of lontong, and fried shallot
Alternative names	Sroto, Coto, Tauto
Course	Main course
Place of origin	Indonesia
Region or state	Nationwide
Associated national cuisine	Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore and Suriname (known as saoto)
Serving temperature	Hot
Main ingredients	Various traditional Indonesian chicken, beef, or offal soups
Variations	Rich variations across Indonesia

Soto is a traditional Indonesian soup. It is also known by names like sroto, tauto, saoto, or coto. This delicious soup mainly has broth, meat, and vegetables. In Indonesia, many traditional soups are called soto. Soups with foreign or Western influences are usually called sop.

Soto is often seen as one of Indonesia's national dishes. You can find it everywhere in Indonesia, from the island of Sumatra to Papua. There are many different kinds of soto. It's available in small local food stalls called warungs, street-side eateries, fancy restaurants, and even luxury hotels. Soto ayam, which is chicken soto, is like Indonesia's version of chicken soup. Because it's always served warm and has a soft texture, many people find it very comforting.

Soto is also popular in nearby countries like Singapore and Malaysia. This is because many Indonesian people have moved there and shared their food traditions. In Suriname, soto is part of the national food too. It was brought there by people from Java, Indonesia, and is spelled saoto in Suriname.

The Story of Soto: A Delicious History
Different Kinds of Soto
- Soto by Region
- Soto by Main Ingredient
What to Eat with Soto
Main Ingredients of Soto
Images for kids
See also

The Story of Soto: A Delicious History

In Indonesia, soto has different names depending on the area. In the Javanese language, it's called soto. When it reached Makassar, it became known as coto. Soto is most common in Java, which suggests it might have started there. Over many years, this soup developed into many different types.

Historians believe soto was created in Indonesia. Each region made its own special soto recipes. However, some experts think that soto might have been influenced by other food traditions, especially Chinese cooking. For example, Denys Lombard, a historian, suggested that soto might have come from a Chinese soup called caudo. This soup was popular in Semarang among Chinese immigrants around the 17th century.

Other experts think soto is a mix of different cooking styles. These include Chinese, Indian, and native Indonesian ways of cooking. For instance, ingredients like bihun (rice noodles) and fried garlic show Chinese influence. The use of turmeric in soto suggests Indian influence. Soto betawi from Jakarta uses minyak samin (ghee), which is a type of clarified butter. This shows influences from Arab or Muslim Indian cooking.

Some historians also say that soto recipes can tell us about the past. For example, soto tangkar is a meat soup today. But in the past, it was mostly made from the bones of goat ribs (called tangkar in the Betawi language). This was because meat was expensive, and many people in Batavia (now Jakarta) couldn't afford much meat. Soto recipes have changed over time to use local ingredients and follow local traditions. For example, in Bali, which has many Hindu people, you can find soto babi (pork soto). This is because Hindu Balinese people often eat pork, and they don't follow the halal rules that forbid pork for Muslims.

Because of these influences, many different kinds of soto developed all over Indonesia. Each one has its own unique taste and ingredients.

In 2018, the Indonesian government officially named soto as one of the country's five national dishes. The other four are nasi goreng, sate, rendang, and gado-gado. Soto was also promoted at the Asian Festival during the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. The theme was "Unity in Diversoto," showing how diverse Indonesia is through its many soto types. Visitors loved trying the different regional sotos.

Different Kinds of Soto

As soto spread across Indonesia, each area made its own version. They used local ingredients and flavors. This is why there are so many different soto recipes in Indonesia!

Soto by Region

Soto Betawi from Jakarta, often made with beef or offal in a creamy milk or coconut milk soup.

Some sotos are named after the city or region where they come from:

Soto Ambon – Made with chicken and a flavorful broth. It gets its color from turmeric and uses many spices like ginger, garlic, and lemongrass. It's served with rice and toppings like bean sprouts, shredded chicken, and fried shallots.
Soto Bandung – A clear beef soto with pieces of beef, white radish, and fried soybeans.
Soto Banjar – Spiced with star anise, clove, and lemongrass. It's often served with a sour and spicy chili sauce and potato cakes.
Soto Banjarnegara or soto Krandegan – A beef soto in a yellow coconut milk soup, usually eaten with ketupat (compressed rice cakes).
Soto Banyumas, sroto Banyumas or sroto Sokaraja – Special because of its peanut chili sauce. It's usually eaten with ketupat.
Soto Banyuwangi or rujak soto – A beef soto that includes beef tripe, vegetables, and peanut sauce.
Soto Betawi – Made with beef or beef offal (internal organs). It's cooked in a broth made from cow's milk or coconut milk, with fried potato and tomato.
Soto Blora, or soto klethuk – Contains shredded chicken, bean sprouts, noodles, eggs, and fried onions. The special part is klethuk, which are small, crispy fried cassava pieces.
Soto Kebumen (also called soto Tamanwinangun) – A duck soto with a peanut-based broth.
Soto Kediri – A chicken soto made with coconut milk.
Soto Kudus – Made with water buffalo meat instead of beef. This is because of local traditions that avoid eating beef.
Soto Lamongan – A very popular street food in many Indonesian cities. It's a type of Madura soto.
Soto Madura or soto Sulung/soto Ambengan – Made with chicken, beef, or offal in a clear, yellowish broth.
Soto Makassar or coto Makassar – A beef and offal soto. It's boiled in water that was used to wash rice and includes fried peanuts.
Soto Medan – A soto that can have chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, or internal organs. It has coconut milk and is served with potato croquettes (perkedel). The meat is often fried before being added.
Soto Pacitan – Chicken soto in a lightly spicy soup. It's served with bean sprouts, rice noodles, cabbage, celery, fried shallots, and fried peanuts.
Soto Padang – A beef broth soto with slices of fried beef, bihun (rice noodles), and perkedel kentang (fried mashed potato).
Soto Pekalongan or tauto Pekalongan – Flavored with tauco (a fermented bean paste).
Soto Semarang – A chicken soto flavored with candlenut. It's mixed with rice, perkedel, tempeh, and often eaten with sate kerang (cockles on a stick) or tripes and quail eggs.
Soto Solo (also known as soto kwali) – Kwali means "cauldron" in Javanese. This beef soto has a clear beef broth. It's served with bean sprouts, celery, and bawang goreng (fried shallots).
Soto Tegal or Sauto Tegal – Similar to Pekalongan soto, also flavored with tauco. Sauto can be made with chicken, beef, or beef offal.
Soto Ungaran or soto gudangan Ungaran – A beef soto served with rice, vegetables, and grated coconut.

Soto by Main Ingredient

Soto ayam with clear yellow broth, topped with emping crackers and fried shallots.

Other sotos are named after their main ingredient:

Soto ayam – Chicken in a yellow, spicy broth. It's served with lontong, nasi empit, ketupat (rice cakes), or vermicelli noodles. You can find it in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Some versions include glass noodles, boiled eggs, lime juice, and bean sprouts.
Soto babat – Made with cow's or goat's tripe (stomach lining). It's served in a yellow, spicy coconut milk soup with noodles, potato, and vegetables, usually eaten with rice. It's common across Indonesia.
Soto babi – A pork soto from the Hindu-majority island of Bali.
Soto bebek – A duck soto, a special dish from Klaten, Central Java.
Soto ceker – A chicken foot soto. It has a clear, yellowish spicy broth. The broth gets its color from spices like shallots, garlic, lemongrass, and turmeric. It's served with cabbage, celery, rice noodles, and can be topped with sambal (chili sauce), lime, and soy sauce. Soto ceker is a popular street food in Jakarta, Bali, and other major cities in Java.
Soto kaki (meaning "foot soto") – Made from beef cow's trotters (feet). It includes tendon and cartilage from cow's feet. It's served in a yellow, spicy coconut milk soup with noodles, potato, vegetables, and krupuk (crackers). It's a Betawi dish found in Jakarta.
Soto kerbau – Made with water buffalo meat instead of beef. It's a specialty of Kudus regency, Central Java.
Soto lenthok – A special dish from Yogyakarta. It's chicken soto served with lenthok, which are fried mashed cassava cakes similar to potato perkedel.
Soto mi (called mee soto in Singapore and Malaysia) – A yellow, spicy beef or chicken broth soup with noodles. It's common in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Bogor, Indonesia, is famous for its soto mi made with beef broth, kikil (cow's cartilage), noodles, and sliced spring rolls.
Soto ranjau or soto tulang – Chicken soto served with its bones. Ranjau means "landmine" in Indonesian, referring to the chicken bones. Usually, soto has shredded boneless chicken. But soto ranjau is a soup of chicken bones with some meat, cartilage, and skin still attached.
Soto tangkar – Another Betawi specialty. It's made from chopped goat or beef ribs (tangkar in Betawi language) and beef brisket. It's cooked in a coconut milk soup with many spices like turmeric, garlic, chili, and cinnamon.

What to Eat with Soto

Soto Semarang from Semarang, chicken soto served with cockles and tripes satay, fried tempeh, and perkedel.

Soto is often eaten with other tasty side dishes:

Stewed quail eggs or chicken eggs
Cockles on a stick (sate kerang)
Skewered grilled tripes (sate babat)
Skewered grilled chicken giblets (internal organs) like intestine, gizzard, and liver satay (sate ati ampela dan usus)
Fried chicken giblets
Prawn crackers, sometimes crushed with fried garlic to make koya (in Madura or Lamongan soto)
Gnetum seed crackers (emping)
Fried tofu or tempeh
Mashed potato patties (perkedel)
Mung Bean Sprouts (tauge/kecambah)
Hot chili sauce (sambal)
Sweet soy sauce
Fried shallots (bawang goreng)
Spicy fried grated coconut (serundeng)
Crackers (krupuk)
Lime juice, or sometimes vinegar
Potato chips (Keripik kentang)
Cabbage

Main Ingredients of Soto

Chicken soto with eggs and tripes satay.

The most common meats in soto are chicken and beef. But you can also find variations with offal (internal organs), mutton (sheep meat), and water buffalo meat. Pork is rarely used in traditional Indonesian soto. However, in Bali, where many people are Hindu, you can find soto babi (pork soto).

Soto is usually served with rice or compressed rice cakes. These rice cakes can be lontong, ketupat, or burasa. Offal is considered a special treat. Parts like the rumen (a part of the stomach), reticulum (another part of the stomach), omasum (a third part of the stomach), and intestines are all eaten.

Other ingredients in soto include soun or bihun (rice vermicelli noodles), mung bean sprouts, and scallions. Common spices for soto include shallots, garlic, turmeric, galangal, ginger, coriander, salt, candlenut, and pepper.

The color, thickness, and texture of soto soup can be different for each recipe. Soto can have a light and clear broth, like soto bandung. It can have a yellow, clear broth (colored with turmeric), like soto ayam. Or it can have a rich and thick broth made with coconut milk or regular milk, like in soto kaki or soto betawi.

In Malaysia and Singapore, soto usually has a clear chicken broth with a spicy taste, served with rice cubes. This type of soto seems to come from the common soto ayam style, which has a clear and slightly yellow broth. It's quite similar to East Javanese soto lamongan or soto madura. Like many dishes, it was likely brought to these countries by Javanese immigrants in the early 1900s.