Chicken and Vegetable Boil-Spanish Style (Cocido) - Scarlett

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked rice (to be eaten with soup after soup is cooked)
6-8 pieces of chicken with bone (Thighs, legs, if using wings you can use more)
3 potatoes cut in 1/4's
1 cassava or yucca root peeled and cut in smaller pieces (optional but can add incredible flavor and thickness to soup)
1 large tomato cut in fourths
2 carrots cut to preferred size
1/2 head of cabbage cut in 1/2 (optional)
6-8 small ears of corn
1 medium size onion cut in 1/2
1 bunch of cilantro
2 garlic cloves peeled
3 envelopes of Chicken Bullion Goya (yellow envelopes)
salt to taste and a little pepper

A few drops hot sauce (to be added before eating-totally optional but it makes it taste so good!)
1 lime cut in fourths or more (to be added to soup before eating, this is a must to add a little kick, but it's totally optional too!)


Let's get cooking!:

Fill large stock pot with water leaving 1/4 of the pot empty. Add chicken pieces, union, garlic, Sazon Goya (chicken bullion) and tomato. Cook at medium heat for 40 minutes or until it comes to a slow boil. Add potatoes, carrots, cassava, corn and cabbage. Cover and cook for 40 minutes keeping an eye on the soup to not boil over, if it's too high bring down the heat. Then add salt and a little pepper to taste. Add the bunch of washed cilantro, whole is preferable. Cover and cook for 30-40 more minutes.

If soup is cooked at slow heat it'll taste better. Allow at least 2 hours for this soup to cook in low to medium heat. This is best because the flavors really mell together if you do. Pointer: Don't cook everything together from the beginning because every vegetable cooks different, some need more time in the pot, others need less time like the cilantro. If you add your cilantro too early it'll bitter up your soup. It's best when added the last 15-20 because it tastes fresh.

Serving the soup:
Pour 1/4 - 1/2 cup of rice in deep bowl, pour soup over top of rice. Squeeze lime and hot sauce to taste. Start with a few drops of hot sauce depending on how much you can tolerate. Then add desired veggies to your bowl or you can put the vegetables on a separate place and add them slowly to your bowl as you eat.

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My grandma made this soup for us on rainy days, or cold days or when it was really hot outside! Really, in Latin countries you pretty much eat soup everyday as a first course followed by a meat course. My family loves to eat this on cold days and Matt loves it with lots of lime and hot sauce. You'll discover what works best for you!

ENJOY!