Ingredients:

1/4 c. olive oil
2 lg. potatoes, about 1 lb.
2 c. kale leaves, shredded fine
1 tsp. salt, or to taste

Directions:

1. Cook the potatoes in 5 cups of water until they are tender.

2. Mash the potatoes coarsely in the liquid.

3. Bring the mixture to a boil, add the kale and boil for 5 minutes or until the kale is tender.

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes  4 Servings.

Some days ago I was planning on to make a special and different dish for my family. I have been searching for some recipes on the internet till I found out an Indonesia recipe of Soto Ayam. “Soto Ayam” is an Indonesian word for chicken soup. “Ayam” means chicken; a “soto” means soup.  Soto Ayam or Chicken Soup is a famous dish in Indonesia.  Mostly Indonesian people love Soto Ayam. The taste flavor of Soto Ayam will spoil the tongue. It will be best to enjoy warm Soto Ayam. Since Soto Ayam is a favorite food in Indonesia, you will easily find Soto Ayam almost everywhere in Indonesia. There a lot of various names of Soto Ayam, based on the different region: Soto Ayam Kudus, Soto Ayam Betawi, Soto Ayam Banjar, and many more. In this article, I will only write the common recipe of Soto Ayam. Here is the recipe:

The ingredients of Soto Ayam are:

1, 5 liters of water

1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces

3 spoonful of cooking oil

2 leeks, finely chopped

1 stalk of lemongrass, brushed

2 lemon leaves

Spices to be refined:

2 spoonful of salt

6 pieces of garlic

4 candle nuts

2 cm of turmeric

1 cm of fresh ginger

½ spoon of pepper powder

Other ingredients are:

150 grams of bean sprouts, pour with boiling water, drained

100 grams of Soun, soaked in hot water, drained, cut into small pieces

2 eggs, boiled and cut into pieces

1 celery, finely chopped

2 spoonful of fried onion

2 spoonful of fried garlic

Complementary Ingredients are:

Potato cakes (perkedel kentang)

Chili sauce

Lime, cut into pieces

Sweet soy sauce

The steps in preparing Soto Ayam are:

1.       Boil the water, put the chicken in the boiling water till tender, and remove the chicken from the pan.

2.       Heat the cooking oil, sauté the refined spices till fragrant.

3.       Add the lime leaves, leeks, and lemon grass. Stir them till wilted.

4.       Pour the sauted spices into the boiled water. Boil again the water.

5.       Cut the boiled chicken into pieces.

Suggested Serving:

1.       Put potato cakes (perkedel kentang), Soun, bean sprout, pieces of chicken into a bowl.

2.       Pour the spiced boiled water into the bowl.

3.       Sprinkle fried onion, fried garlic and chopped celery onto the dish.

4.       Soto Ayam is ready.

Here’s the Ingredient List!

1.            Vegetable broth, 2 quarts

2.            Yellow onions (peeled and sliced), 2 pounds

3.            Minced garlic, 2 cloves

4.            Olive oil, 2 tablespoons

5.            Sugar, 3 teaspoons

6.            Sliced French bread, 1 loaf

7.            Shredded cheese, 0.5 pound

8.            Salt & pepper

The Recipe Steps

A)        Medium-heat up the oil in the pot

B)        Add the onions into the pot and cook for ~10 minutes with frequent stirring; make sure the onions soften without getting charred

C)        Mix in the sugar, salt, and pepper, carry on cooking for ~20 minutes with frequent stirring until onions turn golden brown (taste and add in additional seasonings if necessary)

D)        Add in the garlic and vegetable broth, and bring the soup to boiling state.

E)        Lower the heat and let the soup simmer for ~15 minutes.

F)         Once the soup is ready to serve at the potluck, heat it up and then pour the hot soup into individual bowls

G)        Then top each bowl with a slice of French bread

H)        Next cover the bread with the shredded cheese

I)         Further heat under the broiler so that the cheese melts, and then it’s ready for consumption!

Enjoy your potluck soup!

Pie Shell

Ingredients

6 oz cracker type biscuits

4 oz butter or margarine

1/4 cup water

Method

Melt margarine, add water. Crush biscuits finely. Add to margarine mixture & mix thoroughly. press into base & sides of 9″ pie plate. Place in refrigerator.

Filling

Ingredients

1 medium onion

1/2 green pepper

7 oz can salmon

2 oz margarine

10 1/2 oz can cream of chicken soup

3 eggs

1/4 cup milk

salt & pepper

lemon juice

celery if desired

Method

Chop onion & green pepper.

Drain salmon, reserving the liquid.

Heat butter or margaring in a saucepan.

Add onion & green capsicum & saute until tender but not brown.

Add soup & stir thoroughly.

Remove from heat.

Beat eggs & milk.

Add to soup mixture with salmon liquid.

Add salt & pepper to taste.

Place flakes of salmon in base of shell.

Pour sauce over the salmon.

Bake in a moderate oven for 35-40 mins or until filling is set & surface is golden.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs steak (chuck or topside)

1 large onion

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 small can mushrooms

1 pkt twist noodles

Method

Cut steak into cubes & place in casserole dish. Slice onion & arrange on top. Add can of soup & can of mushrooms. Place lid on casserole dish & cook in moderate oven for 2 1/2 hours.

Cook noodles in rapidly boiling salted water.

Serve stroganoff with carrot rings, peas & noodles.

Ingredients

1-2 lbs stewing steak, cubed

1 small can condensed mushroom soup

1-2 tbsp butter

Method

Brown steak in butter. Place steak plus can of soup in slow oven & cook for 2 1/2 hours or until tender.

1 lb. ground beef
1 med. onion
4 C. thinly-sliced potatoes
1 can cheddar cheese soup or cream of mushroom
1/2 soup can milk
1 pt. pizza sauce
6 oz. mozzarella cheese

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Place raw potatoes in a baking dish.

2. Add browned meat with onions.

3. Add salt and pepper to potatoes and hamburger.

4. Mix soup and milk and pour over meat.

5. Pour pizza sauce over top.

6. DO NOT STIR. Dot with butter.

7.  Bake at 375 for 1 hour.

8. Remove and add cheese.

Another great benefit of soup is that it keeps you warm in the winter season. Soup has a natural talent of warming up the body and keeping it warm for a long period of time. It is a good idea to have soup regularly in the winter to keep you warm and healthy. You will know what I mean if you have ever had that feeling of a great tasting warm soup on a cold winter afternoon.

Soup is also a wonderful cure for the common cold. Most people only turn to soups when they have come down with a cold and flu, and it is understandable. Chicken has an amino acid called cysteine that assists in thinning the mucus within your lungs which makes it easier for it all come out. Warm chicken soup helps fight inflammation. It is good to get a friend, relative or partner to make you some healthy chicken soup when you are feeling under the weather. Fresh chicken soup is always better because it has no harmful preservatives and fresh ingredients will benefit you much more. Chicken noodle soup is exciting, tasty and very beneficial – oh and easy to make!

Vegetable soup also has very good health qualities as it maintains and restores your water balance in the body. This in turn helps keep our blood pressure under control. It is also a great way to get more vegetables into your diet, especially with children.

If you wish to lose weight, eating this dish regularly is a spectacular way to do so. Although soups are seen to be quite a light dinner or meal, they in fact keep you less hungry for longer. Scientists say that when you eat a meal as a soup, the mixture stays in your stomach and makes you stay fuller for a longer period of time and then resulting in snacking less during meal times. There are many “weight loss” soups on the market that help you to stay less hungry through out the day, but you can definitely make them yourself at home and still reap the benefits, or find great soup recipes online.

After carving jack-O-Laterns, add cut-out pumpkin pieces, from which you’ve removed the shell portion, to beef and vegetable stews for a terrific fall flavor.

Here’s a great way to tenderize stew meat: Add at least three (3) wine corks to the pot. Corks release enzymes and reduce the cooking time by as much as half. Be sure to remove the corks before serving!

Tea can be used as a meat tenderizer, particularly for stew meat. In a Dutch oven, sear chunks of stew meat in fat or oil until very well browned. Add 2 cups of strong black tea, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add stock and continue to cook stew with additional ingredients as usual.

I hope this information will come in handy in the kitchen.