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.

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.

Food Focus: Colombian Shredded Beef (Carne Desmechada)

Country Of Origin: The name says it....Colombia

It is unfortunate that we do not have any well-known colombian restaurants in Singapore. Our interest and exposure to colombian food started when a colombian-american friend cooked dinner for us a few years ago. He cooked a stew called Sancocho and served it with rice, chopped parsley and diced avocado. It blew our minds and unfortunately his wallet too. Due to the fact that the bought everything from Cold Storage....the cost of the ingredients came up to a whooping $300.

And so it grew, our interest (or at least for some of us) in colombian food. We were cooking for some friends one night and thought of having a little something with white rice. That was when we decided to have a few simple colombian dishes that will serve well with it. And among these dishes, Carne Desmechada was one of them.

Carne Desmechada

Ingredients:
-1kg frozen beef stew cubes, thawed
-2 red peppers (capsicums), roughly chopped
-around 10 sprigs of spring onions, roughly sliced
-5 cloves garlic
-1 teaspoon cumin
-5 tablespoons vegetable oil
-3 beef stock cubes dissolved in 1 cup hot water (Knorr is the preferred brand)
-2 teaspoons black pepper
-extra salt (if needed) to taste

Place the beef cubes in a large pot and pour enough boiling water to cover. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Or until beef cubes can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove from heat and drain. Shred the beef with 2 forks and set aside. In a deep-dished non stick pan, fry the red peppers, spring onions and garlic with the vegetable oil on medium to low heat until the mixture turns soft and garlic turns golden. Take care not to burn the garlic. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and stir in the cumin and black pepper. Give the pan a good wipe. Allow the mixture to cool before pulsing or blending it in a food processor or blender. Remember to keep blending until the mixture becomes a smooth paste. Transfer the spice paste, shredded beef and hot beef stock back into the pan and fry over high heat for about 5 to 7 minutes until the mixture has dried up a little. But not too dry as the beef should look like it has been mixed with a bit of gravy. Remove from heat and serve.

Colombian-Style Spaghetti: Spaghetti con Salsa Criolla

We were planning a dinner with some friends a few months ago. And it turns out, one of them is not much of a rice eater and prefers bread and pasta. Being asian, bread is nice as a side but not as the main carbohydrate. Especially for dinner (it is still alright if it were to be for breakfast or lunch).

Therefore, along with a few other dishes, we decided to cook a colombian-style spaghetti. There are many different types of south american pasta variations. But we decided on this one as it was easy and cheap to prepare. We made a mistake by using instant spaghetti though (as the normal one was out of stock). This made the dish a little sticky as instant spaghetti cooks faster than normal spaghetti. We recommend using normal spaghetti for this dish.

Spaghetti con Salsa Criolla is a one dish meal that is refreshing and light on the palate. It is the heavy tasting grated cheese that you put on top that makes the difference. Paired up together, its taste is deliciously smooth as the cheese provides a good zing on the rather neutral tasting spaghetti.

Spaghetti con Salsa Criolla

Ingredients:
-5 red bell peppers (capsicums), deseeded and roughly chopped
-5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
-2 large onions, roughly chopped
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1 teaspoon dried oregano (we prefer Mexican oregano but the European one is fine too)
-2 teaspoons salt
-2 teaspoons black pepper
-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
-500g spaghetti
-500g (or more, up to you) shredded hard cheese such as Parmesan or Romano

In a deep dished non-stick pan, fry the bell peppers, garlic, onions and vegetable oil over medium high heat for about 20 minutes to half an hour. The mixture should be soft by then. Add the cumin, oregano, salt and black pepper. Stir for another 10 minutes over medium heat. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool. Pulse till smooth in a blender or food processor and set aside. Give the pan a good wipe.

Cook the spaghetti according to the package's instructions. But remember to keep it al-dente. Drain the pasta and RINSE IT. This sauce accentuates the starch in the pasta so this step is crucial if you do not want an overly starchy dish. Return the sauce to the pan and pour the drained pasta over it. Toss the pasta and allow it to sizzle a little on high heat. Turn off the heat and transfer the spaghetti into a large casserole dish. Sprinkle liberally with cheese and serve. We recommend a little more cheese than you think is adequate. Do not be fooled by our picture. It was not enough cheese.