Javanese Legacy · Spiced Noodle Soup

Mee Soto

Photo: Kcdtsg / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Many stalls ladle the same broth over compressed rice cakes instead of noodles, sold as soto ayam, with a potato cutlet called begedil as a standard add-on.

A turmeric-yellow chicken broth, spiced with lemongrass and galangal, is ladled over thick yellow noodles with shredded chicken, beancurd puffs, and a hard-boiled egg, finished with fried shallots and a squeeze of lime, sold from Malay food stalls around Geylang Serai.

Why it's made this way: Soto is a family of Javanese soups, and Javanese immigrants carried it into Singapore and Johor, where serving the broth over yellow noodles as mee soto made it a Malay hawker staple around Kampong Glam and Geylang Serai.