EF #10: Soto Pak Kored

This week, I and my little family are having a holiday in Jogja. During our one week trip, my husband’s aunt took us to Kebumen, a small city in Central Java. She lives there.

Since i haven’t got the chance to write for English Friday Challenge last week, so I decided to write about one of my favorite food in Kebumen.

It is Soto Pak Kored.

At first, i thought this soto would be similar to soto in general: greenish yellow soup, served with white noodle, bean sprout, sliced cabbage, and sometimes carrot (it is different in every region). For you who don’t know soto, it is an Indonesian traditional soup which is made from chicken or beef broth, served with beef or chicken chunks, vegetables such as cabbage, bean sprout, carrot, tomato, and extra topping like vermicelli or white noodle, half boiled egg, and fried onion.

Indonesia has many kinds of soto according to the region, such as Soto Lamongan, Soto Betawi, or Soto Banjar. Since the main ingredients are turmeric, ginger, garlic, shallot, and hazelnut (kemiri), it has yellowish color. Soto Pak Kored, has brownish soup. I can say it is almost black.

There’s nothing special about the look and the smell, but when I tasted it I suddenly fell in love. The reason was because I like everything sweet, and this soto is sweet! The sweetness reminds me of a small-bowl soto sulung in Magelang.

In one bowl, Soto Pak Kored only contains of chunky beef, bean sprout, ketupat (rice cake) and fried onions. However, it tastes really good and rich in flavor. Oh ya, if you like to squeeze some lime on your soto, you’ll be disappointed. They don’t serve lime, but they have  chilli sauce instead. It is okay for me since I like to taste the original flavor of dishes without adding chilli or sweet soy sauce.

After finished eating, I went to their kitchen to take a picture of ready-to-serve soto because mine was gone before I took the picture, haha.. I didn’t ask for the recipe, though. I’m afraid it would be something confidential. So, I only had some shots and went back to the dining area: an L-shape porch of a javanese traditional house.

Are you interested to go there? It is only 15 minutes away from Suwuk Beach or Petanahan Beach in Kebumen, or 17 km from the city center. So, don’t forget to put Soto Pak Kored: Asli Petanahan (originally from Petanahan) in your culinary trip wishing list.