Venezuelan Sancocho de Gallina

About This Recipe

Sancocho is the great comfort soup of Venezuela — a generous, nourishing stew packed with root vegetables, corn, plantain, and slowly simmered chicken. Every Venezuelan family has their version, but the common thread is the abundance of ingredients and the warm, cumin-scented broth. Served with white rice and avocado, it's the meal that cures everything from the common cold to homesickness.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 1 wholechicken, cut into pieces
• 2 earscorn, cut into rounds
• 300 gyuca (cassava), peeled and chunked
• 2 mediumpotatoes, cubed
• 1 greenplantain, sliced thick
• 1 mediumonion, chopped
• 4 clovesgarlic, minced
• 1 mediumtomato, chopped
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspsalt
• 1/2 cupcilantro, chopped
• 2 literswater

Instructions

1. 1

   Brown the chicken

   In a large pot, brown chicken pieces with a little oil. Add onion, garlic, and tomato. Sauté until softened.

2. 2

   Add water and simmer

   Add water, cumin, and salt. Bring to a boil. Skim foam from the top. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

3. 3

   Add hard vegetables

   Add corn, yuca, and plantain. Cook for 20 minutes.

4. 4

   Add potatoes

   Add potatoes and cook another 15 minutes until all vegetables are tender.

5. 5

   Finish

   Adjust seasoning. Stir in cilantro. Serve in deep bowls with white rice and avocado on the side.

Variations

• •

  Make with beef (sancocho de res)

• •

  Add auyama (pumpkin) for sweetness

• •

  Use vegetable broth and omit meat for a vegetarian version

• •

  Vegetarian: swap the protein for roasted king oyster mushrooms, smoked tofu or cooked chickpeas — adjust seasoning slightly upward to compensate.

Storage

Refrigerate up to 4 days. Add water when reheating as the starch thickens the broth.

Frequently Asked Questions