There are definitely parallels between cooking and producing; you’re creating something, combining all sorts of different elements like an alchemist to make something nice.

UKF’s In The Kitchen series returns for a third course with help from Dutch drum & bass producer Lenzman.

The beatmaker has forged a reputation for producing beautiful soulful beats, and with a highly anticipated album – entitled Looking At The Stars – just around the corner, he looks set to develop his reputation as one of the best in the business.

“I’m happy with the album and I’m really looking forward to hearing people’s reactions to all the tunes”, he says. “I’ve been listening to it for the past two years so I’m pretty sick of some of the tracks on there but for everyone else they’re going to be completely fresh and new!”

Aside from knocking up carefully crafted beats in the studio, Lenzman is also a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to his culinary capabilities too. It turns out he’s just as much as a master of liquid dishes as he is liquid rollers. And Soto Ayam soup is a personal pièce de résistance.

“I’m not bad at cooking when I put my mind to it” he laughs. “Indonesia used to be a colony within Holland, so there’s a lot of Indonesian food here, and my favourite particular Indonesian food is Soto Ayam, which is a traditional soup.”

“I just love this dish, it’s always really tasty, especially when I make it! I doubt many people in England have ever had the opportunity to try it which is a shame. There are definitely parallels between cooking and producing; you’re creating something, combining all sorts of different elements like an alchemist to make something nice.”

 

Lenzman’s Soto Soup

Here’s my recipe for Soto Soup. Its origins are Indonesian, but the way I make it is my take on the Surinam variety (Lots of people of Indonesian origin live in Surinam). It’s a great eat and you can mix and match the trimmings to make it your own. You can have it as a snack or have it as dinner.

I just want to say that my cooking is just as my music, it’s all about feeling things out. Nothing is set in stone, so you’re going to have to do things off the cuff and taste as you go along. Okay cool story bro, let’s eat.

The broth

Some soup chicken (you can use what you like as long as there are bones for flavour)

1x lemongrass

1x thumb sized piece of galangal

8x all spice pods

2x stock cubes (chicken)

3x bay leaves

1x onion (halved)

4x garlic cloves
White pepper (to taste)

1x scotch bonnet pepper (optional)

Trimmings

Rice (if you are a complete moron in the kitchen: check the packet how to prepare)

1x piece of chicken breast

Crisp fried onion (Asian style – look online)

julienned fried potato a.k.a. kentang (you can buy this in most Asian supermarkets too)

4x boiled eggs

1x Big handful of bean sprouts (about 300 grams will do)

chopped celery leaves (a small handful will do)

sweet soy sauce (ketjap manis)

 

Method

The broth

In a large pot, add water (the amount depends on how many people you’re cooking for obviously – you’ll have to adjust the rest accordingly, but let’s call it 3 litres).

Add all of the broth ingredients listed above.

Put the lid on and let simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove the chicken, and taste the broth. If too weak, add a bit more stock.

Let simmer for another 45 minutes with the lid on. If you like spicy food, you can throw in the scotch bonnet pepper for the last part of boiling. The longer you put it in the broth, the spicier. Make sure it doesn’t break though.

Once ready, remove all the ingredients from the broth and it’s ready to serve.

While it’s boiling you can get the trimmings ready…

Trimmings

None of these has to be warm, so you can also do this before. Prepare the rice. Boil the eggs, remove shell and halve. Finely chop the celery leaves. Season the chicken breast and fry until nice and brown on the outside. Leave to cool while you work on other stuff. Once cooled, pull the chicken breast apart into small stringy bits of meat. It’s quite a bit of work, but it’s worth it. The fried onion and potato I’d buy. Place all these trimmings into separate bowls.

How to serve
Okay so this is how it works: you take a bowl. Add some rice, add some stringy chicken, half an egg and some of all of the other trimmings to your liking. Once ready, pour over some of the broth. Add some soy sauce and you’re ready to eat!

PS: If you like things spicy, you can break apart the scotch bonnet and dip it in your soup for a bit. Be careful though!

Lenzman’s debut album Looking At The Stars is released on June 16 on Metalheadz. Pre-order now.