I’ve heard a lot about Cuba but needless to say I’ve never visited. My first stories of Cuba came from my dad who went there a few times for work, when he returned he would tell us stories of this wonderful country that was stuck in time but cursed by an evil dictator. As far as I was concerned it was a fairy-tale! Then, as I began to fall in love with modern history at school and university I learned all about Cuba’s road to communism, it’s alliance with the USSR and stand offs with the US.
Later on when I started working I had a few friends who honeymooned in Cuba and again I would receive fairy tale like descriptions of a nation paralysed in time, but this time the stories also came accompanied of descriptions of excellent cocktails and food – with ropa vieja (literal translation old clothes) a pulled beef dish – being a firm favourite.
When I started to research their food I found that there was a lot of similarity with Colombian food again. In Colombia we have a dish called Ajiaco which is essentially a creamy chicken soup which is made creamy with potatoes that are left to boil until they disintegrate, and it is flavoured with a herb called guascas. I have never been able to buy guascas in England, but this summer I learned that they grow as a weed in England and are called gallant soldiers, I’ve looked for them quite a lot but am sadly yet to find any! So when Is saw Cuban Ajiaco on the page I was excited as the recipe didn’t call for guascas. However, upon closer inspection this is a multi-meat soup which had a lot more too it than a Colombian Ajiaco and in fact resembles a Colombian Sancocho much more. By this time thought I was already excited so below is my recipe for Cuban Ajiaco.
The recipe I used can be found here but I adapted it to suit what I could easily find in Tesco, which surprisingly did include plantains and cassava!
Serves 4-5
Ingredients
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Medium Onion small dice
1 Carrot diced
3-4 Garlic Cloves minced or grated
2 tsp Salt divided
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Black Pepper
500g smoked gammon cut into bite-sized chunks.
500g stewing beef cut into bite-sized chunks.
1 14.5 ounce can Diced Tomatoes, drained
8 cups Water
1 green plantain, peeled and cut into 1cm rounds
1 Cassava (about the same size as the plantain), peeled and cut into 2cm pieces
2 corn on the cobs cut into 4 cm pieces
500g butternut squash peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 stock cube
If you can find yams I would recommend adding 1 as well. You can also add ripe plantain, potato, and/or chicken if you like. You can also use pork and beef on the bone, for example ox tails would work well. Just take them out of the soup before serving, pull off the bone and then add back into the soup. The bones will add a lot more flavour!
Method
In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil and then sauté the onion and the carrot. Once softened slightly add the garlic, half the salt, oregano, cumin and pepper.
Add the meat, the rest of the salt and sear.
Add the tomatoes and the water, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 60 minutes – but don’t put your feet up quite just yet!
While the soup is simmering prepare your vegetables. After peeling and slicing them into 1 cm rounds put them in a bowl of cold water to prevent any oxidising.
After the 60 minutes is up add the cassava, plantain and potato and yams if using.
Cook for about 20 minutes and then add the squash, corn and ripe plantain if using.
Bring back to a boil, add the stock cube then reduce to a simmer and cook until all the veg is tender. Taste and season again if needed.
Serve with coriander.
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