Sayur Sawi Asin

A friend of mine once served this for our lunch and I instantly fell in love with this sort of sour soup. Can't really tell what's in it, though :( and frankly I do not even know its name. My friend and I name it Sayur Sawi Asin which means Salty Vegetable Soup. Yeah, a pretty funny name for sour soup.

As the Lord knows I know nothing about this soup except the fact that this is too simple to prepare and that the ingredients are easy to find, I think this is worth it. Just go to local Asian store, get a package of greenish, conserved vegetable-look-alike (in a plastic wrap, look at the image below) and you're ready to cook.

ingredients:
serves 4
1 package of greenish, conserved vegetable
3 garlic cloves, crushed
4 chicken drumsticks or any kind that still has bones attached 
1500 ml water
salt and pepper
for the chili paste; grind 10 eye bird chilies and 1 chili (previously boiled) together with 1 garlic clove in a mortar and pestle. Add a dash of lime juice (optional), after all the soup is sour already.


method:
1. Put the chicken and water in a sauce pan over high heat and bring to the boil.


2. Lower the heat and simmer, skimming the surface until no more foam rises.


3. Add the garlic cloves, cook for a further 5 minutes.


4. Open the package of the greenish, conserved vegetable, slice the content into smaller pieces, set aside its juice. Finally, add the sliced vegetable and its juice to the sauce pan. Cook for a further 15 minutes.


5. Add salt and pepper, mix it all together. Serve with rice and chili paste.