Spice Vegetable Soup with Chicken and Prawn

Ingredients

  • onion - 1, ½ cut in two, ½ sliced
  • garlic - 2 cloves, crushed
  • red/green chili - 1, seeded and sliced
  • terasi - 1cm/½in, in cubes
  • macadamia nuts - 3 or almond - 6
  • lengkuas - 1cm/½in, peeled and sliced or 5ml/1 tsp lengkuas powder
  • sugar - 5ml/1 tsp
  • oil - for frying
  • boned, skinned chicken breast - 225g/8 oz, cut in 1cm/½in cubes
  • coconut milk - 300ml/½ pint/1¼ cups
  • chicken stock - 1.2 liters/2 pints/5 cups
  • aubergine - 1, diced
  • French beans - 225g/8 oz, chopped
  • small wedge of crisp white cabbage, shredded
  • red pepper - 1, seeded and finely sliced
  • prawns - 115g/4 oz, cooked, peeled
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

  • Grind the onion quarter, garlic, chili, terasi, nuts, lengkuas and sugar to a paste in a food processor or with a pestle and mortar.
  • Heat a wok, add the oil and then fry the paste, without browning, until it givens off a rich aroma. Add the sliced onion and chicken cubes and cook for 3-4 minutes.
  • Stir in the coconut milk and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes.
  • Add the diced aubergine to the soup, with the beans, and cook for only a few minutes, until the beans are almost cooked.
  • A few minutes before serving, stir the cabbage, red pepper and prawns merely heated through. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serves 6-8.

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