Winter is right around the corner meaning the weather outside is beginning to cool down. What better way to warm yourself up than with an amazing stew from the Dominican Republic?
Sancocho is a stew that contains a variety of meat and vegetables that’ll for sure fill you up! Though today we’re focusing on the Dominican version of sancocho, there are many Latin countries that have their own version of this incredible stew like Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and more.
Typically, sancocho is eaten on special occasions or during fiestas, but there is absolutely no reason not to enjoy this meal on any regular day.
So, how is traditional sancocho made?
Usually sancocho contains beef and sometimes chicken, along with root-vegetables, which can vary, but there are still some ground rules everyone must follow when it comes to making this recipe: no potatoes, noodles or tomato sauce allowed.
But today, we are going to look at the amplified version of this stew, known as Sancocho de Siete Carnes which is just like the original recipe, except you use seven types of meat.
To simplify this recipe, I decided to only use beef, chicken and pork, considering the seven-meat recipe serves a whopping twelve people.
How to Make Sancocho:
Prepping the Meat
Seasoning the meat for Sancocho is quite simple. Add all of your meat to a bowl, and season with cilantro, oregano, garlic, freshly squeezed lime juice and salt.
Then, marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Prepping the Vegetables
To prep the vegetables, chop them all into bite-sized chunks around the same size and add to a bowl, no seasoning needed.
Cooking the Stew
- In a large pot, heat the oil over high heat, add the seasoned meats and stir (be careful with hot oil splattering). Cook stirring until browned. Add the remaining meats and corn, and stir for a couple of minutes.
- Add water: Lower heat to medium and pour in the water. Simmer until it breaks the boil.
- Add vegetables: Once the water breaks the boils, add auyama, chopped plantain, and root vegetables (ñame, yautía, yuca).
- Cover and simmer over low heat until the last ingredients you added are cooked through, it should have thickened a bit too. If it dries too much, add water as necessary. Season with salt to taste. Remove from the heat.
- Serve with rice, avocado and hot sauce on the side.
Ingredients (for 12 servings)
- 1 lb beef for stews flank, chuck, or round cut into small pieces
- 1 lb goat meat cut into small pieces
- 1 lb pork for stews belly, or chump end cut into small pieces
- Juice of two limes
- 1 tsp cilantro or parsley chopped
- 1/2 tsp oregano powdered
- 1 tsp garlic crushed
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp oil
- 1 lb chicken cut into small pieces
- 1 lb pork ribs cut into small pieces
- 1 lb bones from a smoked ham cut into small pieces
- 1 lb pork sausage longaniza cut into small pieces
- 2 corn cobs cut into 1/2-inch slices, optional
- 2.5 quart water
- 1/2 lb West Indian pumpkin (auyama) cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 unripe plantains peeled
- 1/2 lb yam (ñame) cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1/2 lb malanga (yautia) cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1/2 lb cassava (yuca) cut into 1-inch pieces
*Keep in mind that you can add different vegetables to the stew, and omit extra meat if you wish*
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