Soto mie

Soto mie, also known as soto mi or mee soto, is a flavorful and spicy noodle soup cherished in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The term "mie" refers to noodles made from flour, salt, and egg, while "soto" translates to soup in Indonesian. In Indonesia, it's called soto mie and is considered a variant of soto. In Malaysia and Singapore, it’s known as mee soto.

Soto mie can be prepared with beef, chicken, or even offal such as cow’s trotters, which include skin, cartilage, and tendons. If you prefer, you can substitute the noodles with rice or rice vermicelli. The soup typically includes tomato slices, boiled potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, cabbage, peanuts, bean sprouts, and your choice of beef, offal, or chicken. The broth is made from beef or chicken stock and is enriched with a blend of spices. Common condiments include lime juice, sambal (a spicy chili paste), fried shallots, vinegar, sweet soy sauce, and emping (crackers made from melinjo nuts).

There are two main versions of soto mie: the beef version and the chicken version. The beef soto mie from Bogor, Indonesia, is popular street food, known for its richly spiced broth. The Jakarta (Betawi) version is similar but uses beef rather than cow’s trotters and incorporates galangal into the spice mix. In Singapore and Johor, Malaysia, the popular version is mee soto ayam, featuring an Indonesian-style chicken broth with thick yellow Hokkien noodles. This dish draws inspiration from Javanese cuisine and resembles soto ayam but uses noodles instead of rice vermicelli.

The origins of mee soto trace back to Madurese immigrants in Surabaya, Indonesia. They brought their spicy soto ayam recipe to Johor and Singapore, where they replaced the traditional rice dumplings with yellow noodles.