The Sancocho Series- Sancocho de Gallina (Colombia)

Hi there people. This is a shortened re-post of 'Sancocho, A Fond Memory'. We wanted to create a 'Sancoho Series', so every kind of Sancocho that we have experimented with so far will be pulled out and listed down. We prepared Sancocho de Gallina (Chicken Sancocho) a couple of months ago when we had some hindu friends over. As we are more comfortable and familiar with the colombian version of Sancocho, we decided to modify a traditional colombian recipe to suit the Singaporean kitchen. We are also quite the lazy (at times) and impatient bunch so we have made a few modifications to speed up the whole cooking process.

Sancocho de Gallina

Ingredients:
-1 red bell pepper (capsicum), roughly chopped
-1 onion, roughly chopped
-4 sprigs spring onions, sliced
-2 teaspoons cumin powder & 1 teaspoon turmeric powder mixed with 3 tablespoons water
-5 cloves garlic, crushed
-2 cans corn kernels, drained
-1kg potatoes, deskinned and cut into quarters
-12 cups water
-5 tablespoons chicken stock powder (Knorr is the preferred brand)
-2kg frozen chicken thighs, deskinned and joints separated
-1/2 cup chopped coriander (cilantro)
-salt and black pepper to taste
-3 to 4 ripe avocados (optional but highly recommended), diced

In a blender or food processor, pulse the bell pepper, onion and spring onions with 1 cup of water. In a large pot, bring the blended ingredients, spice paste (cumin & turmeric), remaining water and chicken stock powder to the boil (do so with the lid on). Add in the chicken and bring to the boil again with the lid on. Simmer for 20 minutes and add in the potatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer again for another 30 minutes. This time with the lid off. Turn off the heat and season with salt and black pepper. Stir in the coriander and corn. Allow the Sancocho to sit (rest) with the lid off for about 2 to 3 hours. This helps its flavour to 'develop' further. Reheat and serve with white rice and avocado.

Food For The Gods- Erzulie Freda

Haiti is a country with many voodoo practitioners. Erzulie Freda is the loa (spirit) of love, beauty, jewellery, dancing, luxury and flowers. She is often portrayed as coquettish, soft spoken and non-violent. Unlike her sister Erzulie Danto. Erzulie Freda is said to be feminine and compassionate but also by some to be spoilt, jealous, lazy and flirtatious. One major difference between Erzulie Freda and Erzulie Danto are their skin colours. Erzulie Danto is considered dark-skinned while Erzulie Freda is known for her fairness. She is often identified with Our Lady Of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa) and Our Lady Of Lourdes. The colours of Erzulie Freda are pink, blue, white and gold. The day that represents her is Thursday.

Food (and foodstuff) offered to Erzulie Freda often includes the following:

• Fish
• Chicken
• White Pigeon
• Sweet Plantains
• Pineapple
• Almond Syrup
• Amaretto
• Anisette
• Sweet Cakes

Due to the fact that she represents luxury and feminity. Common offerings to Erzulie Freda also include jewellery and perfume.

Food For The Gods- Erzulie Danto

Haiti is a country with many voodoo practitioners. There are many different loas (spirits) in Voodoo that represent different aspects of life (and death). Erzulie Danto represents motherhood and particularly, single motherhood. She is considered to be extremely powerful, passionate, violent and complex. She is well known for the strength unlike her sister Erzulie Freda (who is known for softness and gentleness). The differences between them can be seen in their response to the harshness of reality in folklore. Erzulie Freda usually breaks down in tears. Erzulie Danto responds in shuddering tantrum. The colours that represent Erzulie Danto are blue, gold and sometimes red. The days that best represent her are Tuesdays and Saturdays. Erzulie Danto is most commonly represented by the image of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa.

Food (and foodstuff) offered to Erzulie Danto often includes the following:

• Sticky Rice With Black Peas
• Bananas
• Griot (a fried pork dish)
• Sweet Black Coffee
• Red Grapes
• Oranges
• Tangerines
• Cinzano
• Tia Maria
• Grand Marnier
• Sweet Red Wine
• Red Grenadine
• Creme de Cacao
• Rum

Besides the mentioned food and drinks. Many also include cigarettes as an offering. It is said that the ideal type of cigarettes to offer to Erzulie Danto are strong, unfiltered ones.

The Sancocho Series: Sancocho de Pescado (Colombia)

One of us has an aunt who only eats fish as her choice of meat. As you can imagine, it can be somewhat irksome sometimes when preparing a meal with her around. But nevertheless she is a nice person, and we invited her over for dinner one night. As usual, we were feeling somewhat lazy and wanted a simple one-dish meal that could be served alongside rice. Cooking rice is always easy in asia. You just need to dump everything into a rice cooker. No stirring. No mess. No pain.

After some thought, we decided to settle on a fish Sancocho. We have eaten Sancocho before (a colombian-american friend cooked it for us), and love how it complements so well with rice. Fish Sancocho can be found in quite a few countries. Some examples are Colombia, Venezuela and the Canary Islands of Spain. As we are most familiar with the colombian version of Sancocho, we decided on settling with a simplified colombian recipe. Where almost all ingredients can be easily bought at any decent supermarket in Singapore.

Sancocho de Pescado

Ingredients:
-1 tablespoon vegetable oil
-1 large onion, finely chopped
-5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
-1 kg frozen (or fresh) white-fleshed fish fillets (such as red snapper, halibut or cod), thawed and cut into large chunks
-10 fish or ikan bilis stock cubes (Knorr is the preferred brand), dissolved in 10 cups of hot water
-1 kg potatoes, deskinned and cut into quarters
-1 teaspoon turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon cumin powder, mixed with 1 tablespoon water
-1/2 cup coriander, finely chopped
-2 cans canned corn, drained
-4 limes, cut into quarters
-3 to 4 ripe avocados (optional but highly recommended), diced

In a large pot, fry the onion and garlic with the vegetable oil over medium to low heat until onions soften and garlic turns brown. Add in the fish stock and turmeric-cumin paste. Clamp a lid onto the pot and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Make sure you give the liquid a good stir. Add the fish fillets into the pot and bring to a boil again. Clamp back the lid and reduce the heat to medium-low. Allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes. Add the potatoes and bring to the boil again. Simmer again for another 30 minutes. This time with the lid off. Turn off the heat and give the mixture a taste. It should be salty enough so we do not recommend any additional salt. Stir in the corn and coriander and allow mixture to sit (rest) for about 2 to 3 hours (make sure the lid is off). Just before dinnertime, reheat the mixture and serve with rice, lime and avocado.

Food For The Gods- Baron Samedi

Haiti is a country with many voodoo practitioners. Voodoo like any other religion, deals with life and death. Baron Samedi is one of the loas (spirits) of the dead and is associated with ancestor worship, death and magic. He is usually depicted with a top hat, black tuxedo, dark glasses, and cotton plugs in the nostrils. He has a white, frequently skull-like face (or actually a skull for a face) and speaks in a nasal voice. He is a sexual spirit and has a particular fondness for tobacco and rum. As well as being master of the dead, he is also a 'giver' of life. It is said that he can cure mortals of any disease or wounds, especially when it is inflicted by voodoo curses and black magic. The colours that represent him are black and purple. As with his name, Saturday is the day that best represents him (Samedi means Saturday in French).

Food (and foodstuff) offered to Baron Samedi often includes the following:

• Salted Herring
• Fresh Herring
• White Skinned Sweet Potatoes
• Purple Skinned Sweet Potatoes
• Corn-On-The-Cob
• Ground Corn
• Lamb or Goat
• Tasso (a kind of cured pork)
• Smoked Plantains
• Yam
• Dumplings
• Pumpkin Soup
• Meat & Root Vegetable Stew
• Black Coffee
• White Rum
• White Rum With Hot Peppers
• Tequila

Due to his fondness for tobacco, smoking pipes filled with tobacco and cigars are usually offered too.

Food For The Gods- Damballah

Haiti is a country with many voodoo practitioners. One of the most important loa (spirits) in voodoo, is Damballah. Damballah is the sky god and considered the earliest creator of life. Damballah rules the mind, intellect, and cosmic equilibrium. He is the considered the patron protector of the handicapped, deformed, crippled, albinos, and young children. When he presents himself in possession, he does not talk, but makes hissing and whistling noises. Damballah is often combined with catholic figures like St Patrick and Moses. The colour that represents Damballah is white. Which is partly why most food offered to him, are more or less white in colour. The day that represents Damballah is Thursday.

Food (and foodstuff) offered to Damballah often includes the following:

• White Rice
• Milk
• White Pigeon
• Flour
• Eggs
• Honey
• Cakes
• Sugar-Based Candy
• Cream-Based Candy
• Spiced Codfish (with rice & beans)
• Cold Water
• Coconut
• Coconut Milk
• Bread
• Cookies
• Anisette
• Corn Syrup
• Shea Butter
• Kola Nuts
• Vodka
• Scotch Whisky
• Baileys
• Almond Syrup

One interesting fact is that Damballah is often represented by serpents. His veve (symbol) includes 2 serpents. And he is also associated with St Patrick (the saint who is said to have driven snakes out of Ireland) and Moses (who managed to turn his staff into a serpent when confronting the Pharaoh of Egypt)

Sancocho, A Fond Memory

Sancocho is a meat and root vegetable stew that is found throughout latin america. Every latin american country has a different way of flavouring and preparing it. Latin american Sancocho evolved from a few different types of Spanish stews that was introduced during the Spanish conquest. Namely Cocido, Puchero Canario and the original Sancocho of the Canary Islands. Which is usually prepared with fish.

Our first exposure to Sancocho was when a colombian-american friend cooked it for us 2 years ago. We took pictures of the ingredients that he bought and documented parts of the cooking process. But after 3 hours of watching him cook, we became a little listless and in the process, somehow misplaced the notes. We regretted it after that though, because the stew tasted so good. It was nothing like we have tasted before. In order to replicate it, we had to backtrack using the photos that we took and by remembering the quantities of what went in (he was not very particular about that, making it a little more complicated for us). After some heavy thinking, we have re-created the recipe in a simpler, smaller and cheaper form (his version took 4 hours in total to prepare and cook, which was enough to feed 20 people, and his ingredients billed up to a whooping $300). There are many different types of meat that can be used for Sancocho. The one that we first tasted was made with beef. However, we decided on a chicken one this time as we had some Hindu friends coming over for dinner that night.

Simple Sancocho De Gallina

Ingredients:
-1 red bell pepper (capsicum), roughly chopped
-1 onion, roughly chopped
-4 sprigs spring onions, sliced
-2 teaspoons cumin powder & 1 teaspoon turmeric powder mixed with 3 tablespoons water
-5 cloves garlic, crushed
-2 cans corn kernels, drained
-1kg potatoes, deskinned and cut into quarters
-12 cups water
-5 tablespoons chicken stock powder (Knorr is the preferred brand)
-2kg frozen chicken thighs, deskinned and joints separated
-1/2 cup chopped coriander (cilantro)
-salt and black pepper to taste
-3 to 4 ripe avocados (optional but highly recommended), diced

In a blender or food processor, pulse the bell pepper, onion and spring onions with 1 cup of water. In a large pot, bring the blended ingredients, spice paste (cumin & turmeric), remaining water and chicken stock powder to the boil (do so with the lid on). Add in the chicken and bring to the boil again with the lid on. Simmer for 20 minutes and add in the potatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer again for another 30 minutes. This time with the lid off. Turn off the heat and season with salt and black pepper. Stir in the coriander and corn. Allow the Sancocho to sit (rest) with the lid off for about 2 to 3 hours. This helps its flavour to 'develop' further. Reheat and serve with white rice and avocado.