Sancocho
In case no one has announced it yet - It’s officially Hispanic Heritage Month !
I was about to claim Sancocho as a Puerto Rican dish but my partner who is from Columbia was quick to claim it. So with that being said, to respect the famous Sancocho. According to the very wise ( sarcasm ) Wikipedia, Sancocho is popular in the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Ecuador, Panama, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Tobago, and Venezuela!
It usually consists of large chunks of meat, chunky vegetables and a broth that seems to temporarily…fix all my life problems. I think what I love the most about it is its unique texture that develops from the yuca, calabaza, plantain and potato as they cook down and become one with the broth - truly a beautiful process. This over some rice with avocado is just indescribable with words as it just needs to be experienced for yourself.
Sancocho
* Serves 8 * Ingredients
Grapeseed oil for cooking
2 - green plantains cut into large chunks ( approx. 3 cups )
1 1/2 cup - yuca cut into a large dice
1 - medium yellow onion medium diced ( approx. 1 cup )
7 - cloves garlic
1/2 cup - sofrito
10 cups - vegetable stock ( Better Than Bouillon - Veg Base )
1/4 cup - chopped cilantro + culantro
1/4 cup - lime juice
1 tbsp - fresh or dried oregano
1 cup - calabaza squash cut into medium / large diced chunks
1 pound oyster mushrooms or enoki mushrooms
2 ears of corn - I cut each one in half and then in half again
1 tbsp - adobo
1 packet - sazon
1/2 tsp - salt
To serve
My favorite way to serve sancocho is with some fresh white rice and with some avocado for the perfect melt in your mouth creaminess. I also like to squeeze over some fresh lime juice and a generous sprinkling of cilantro.
Instructions -
Step 1 - Gather all ingredients and prep all the vegetables
There is nothing worse than going to make something and realizing you don’t have the stuff !
If you don’t already have the sofrito made go ahead and make that and set it to the side.
I like to peel the yuca first and soak it in water while I work on the rest. Soaking the yuca in some warm water helps it to soften. You can decide whether or not to peel the potato, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Then go about cutting it into medium to large sized diced chunks and set aside.
To cut the plantain, I cut off the tops and bottoms and then do a slit down the middle. With my thumb I pry open the plantain peel to separate it from the plantain itself ( sometimes it helps to do this in the sink under warm running water ). Then go about cutting the plantain into large chunks. I like to cut these on the larger side because they shrink and cook down as they thicken the sancocho.
After this there are 2 veggies that are on the harder side to cut - the calabaza squash and the corn. I typically buy just a piece of the calabaza as its usually very big. From the big hunk of squash, cut off a large chunk and go about dicing that chunk to get about 1 cups worth. For the corn, peel off the husk and cut off the head and bottom before cutting it in half and then in half again to get nice personalized corn cobs.
For the mushrooms I either shred oyster mushrooms by pulling them a part or do a similar process if using enoki mushrooms. Chop up some cilantro and culantro, then set aside along with the lime juice. For vegetable stock I use a base so for that I like to make that while I am gathering the rest of the prep. I simply boil some water and dissolve in the appropriate amount of base.
Now all that’s left is to dice a yellow onion along with 7 cloves of garlic or as much as you desire because there is never too much.
Having this all prepped out before getting started is pretty essential otherise I would imagine this could be pretty stressful.
Step 2 - Cooking the starchy veggies
In a large soup pot on medium heat, pour in a couple tablespoons of grapeseed oil and then add in the chunks of plantains. Saute these up until they develop some nice golden brown color. After this I do the same thing with the diced yuca and potato. Once those veggies have also got some nice color on them, add in a touch of oil if needed and then the onion and garlic then saute till golden.
Now that everything has developed some good color add in the sofrito and mix well to combine everything together. After a few minutes go by allowing the sofrito to cook along with everything else, now its time to sort of deglaze the pot with the vegetable stock and allow this to come to a simmer.
Step 3 - Season the sancocho
Once all the stock in the pot and everything is simmering well. Add in the calabaza followed by the seasonings adobo, sazon, oregano, salt and pepper stirring everything in well. Let all this cook on low heat for 30 minutes. When returning to the pot add in the lime juice, corn, shredded mushrooms, cilantro and culantro. Stir all this in to combine and let this all cook together on low heat for another 15 minutes before shutting off the heat.
Step 4 - Serving
To serve, I like to accompany sancocho with fresh white rice, cilantro, and avocado with some lime wedges to squeeze over the top. The combination of sancocho with rice and avocado is what dreams are made of. I also love to enjoy this with arepas as they are so good to dip into the broth.
