Soto Betawi, Authentic Batavian Cuisine

Ever heard of soto Betawi ? Soto Betawi 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. This cuisine usually served with or without a plate of rice, because Indonesian people mainly eat rice. The term "Soto Betawi" appeared in Indonesian culinary at 1977 until 1978 in the past, but the dish itself was already founded long before that. The person who made this popular is a soto seller named Lie Boen Po who used to sell this cuisine at THR Lokasari / Prinsen Park, and of course he's using his own unique recipe.

There were many soto maker who call him foot soto mister "X" or with another names at that time.  The term itself started to spread and used as the general term for the same dish by another soto maker when mister X closes his shop in 1991. 

Soto is sometimes considered Indonesia's national dish, as it is served from Sumatra to Papua, in a wide range of variations. Soto is omnipresent in Indonesia, available in many warungs and open-air eateries on many street corners, to fine dining restaurants and luxurious hotels. Soto, especially soto ayam (chicken soto), is an Indonesian equivalent of chicken soup. Because it is always served warm with a tender texture, it is considered an Indonesian comfort food.

Because of the proximity and significant numbers of Indonesian migrants working and settling in neighbouring countries, soto can also be found in Singapore and Malaysia, and has become a part of their cuisine.

Introduced to Suriname by Javanese migrants, it is part of the national cuisine of that country as well, where it is spelled saoto.

Nowadays, we can find this dish almost everywhere in Jakarta.





Sources :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soto_(food)
https://id.wikibooks.org/wiki/Resep:Soto_Betawi