COCIDO CON PELOTAS
The process for making stew with meatballs is relatively simple but a decent amount of time is required. This traditional dish – very typical on Christmas Day - is highly demanded in cold weather as it is said to bring dead people into life.
Ingredients:
The ingredients for stew vary from region to region, often depending on what crops are abundant in an area, and also vary from family to family. However, the part that defines stew is the broth (caldo).
· Half chicken or Turkey cut into 2 halves (500 gram)
· 12 meatballs
· 250 grams of tender beef
· A piece of flesh of pork
· 3 blood sausages
· 100 grams of chickpeas put into water the night before
· Vegetables
· 6 small potatoes
· 1 turnip
· 2-3 carrots
· 150 grams green beans
· 200 grams celery
Method:
- Put the meat and the chickpeas into a deep and large cooking pot with a lot of water.
- Just before starting boiling, remove the froth covering the meat.
- Add the vegetables, salt and saffron. Then you have 2 options:
a) Cook everything in a big pressure cooker for about 45-50 minutes.
b) Simmer for several hours. In this way you will get an incredibly rich and tasty broth.
- After 20 minutes, add the potatoes and the meatballs, although you can take some broth and cook the meatballs in a different pot to avoid them breaking.
- This meal is served in two or three courses:
a) First, 2 or 3 meatballs are served with some broth. It is also typical to add some thin noodles to the broth.
b) Then, a course with potatoes, vegetables, meat and chickpeas is served.
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