Soto Ayam (Indonesian Chicken Soup)

In a frying pan, heat 3 tablespoon of oil and stir fry the spice paste, bay leaves, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass and galangal until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Keep stirring to avoid burning.

Turn the heat off. Transfer everything from the frying pan to a slow cooker. Add chicken, water, chopped celery, salt, sugar and white pepper. Set on low. Cook for 6 hours. Taste and adjust salt/pepper as needed.

Take the chicken out and let them cool. Shred the meat.

How to serve :
Prepare bowls, add into each bowl some glass noodle, some shredded cabbage, some shredded chicken, 1 hard boil egg, garnish with some chopped scallion, fried shallots, potato chips and ground shrimp crackers. Pour in the soup. To make a more filling meal, it is common in Indonesia to serve Soto Ayam with a bowl of warm white rice. Sometimes I also add some fresh sliced tomatoes.

I made sweet potato chips instead of potato chips. I sliced the sweet potatoes thinly using a 1 mm slicing blade in a food processor then soaked them in salt water for an hour then deep fried them. Do the same thing if you use potatoes.