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The Fair Trade Cook Book
The FAIRTRADE COOKBOOK
Fair Trade Recipes for a Fairer World

Sancocho Puerto Rico

Sancocho means blistering hot or stewed, and in a culinary context, can be anything from a simple chicken soup to a full "Bollito Misto".
However, the preparation and cooking is specific to Puerto Rica in the Caribbean whilst being a member of the world-wide family of stews.
Sancocho recipes like this are also ascribed to Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela , so possibly generically to the area from Mexico to Brazil.

The recipe that follows is a simple wholesome meal and ascribed to Puerto Rico.
The meat quantity gives approximately 6 portions.

Ingredients

1,000 gm stewing beef
100 ml FAIRTRADE red wine
5 cloves garlic
2 medium onions
1 green pepper (capsicum)
3 sticks celery
2 cm root ginger
1 red chili pepper
5 ml ground coriander
2 ml ground cumin
2 ml ground white pepper
4 medium tomatoes
2 litres beef stock
2 green bananas
1 yellow plantain
500 gm FAIRTRADE new potatoes
500 gm carrots
FAIRTRADE Sources
FAIRTRADE Fresh fruit and veg
Lemons
Wine
Herbs and Spices

Method

Preparation


Skin and crush the garlic.
De-skin, top and tail the onions and chop smallish.
De-pith the peppers and cut up into long strips.
Wash the celery and cut up into 3 cm chunks.
Peel the bananas and plantain and cut into chunks.
Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks.
Top, tail and peel the carrots and cut into chunks.

Cooking


Heat a little oil in a large heavy pan and fry the beef cubes with the onions and crushed garlic until the meat is browned all over. keep it moving to reduce sticking.
Fold in the the capsicum, celery, ginger, chili, coriander, cumin, ground pepper, red wine, tomatoes and 1 litre of beef stock.
Bring to the boil and skim off any scum.
Reduce to a simmer and simmer uncovered for 1 hour.
Add a further litre of beef stock and bring to the boil.
Add the vegetables and simmer for a further 25 minutes.
Adjust the seasoning to taste.
Check that the vegetables are cooked, and simmer a little longer if necessary.

To serve

Serve with hunks of good brown bread to soak up the gray juices.

Variation

In the Caribbean a number of vegetables are locally available including sweet potato, butternut squash and chaote. If you can find these, include them in the stew.