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Mute santandereano
Hominy and tripe soup
Mute: Bucaramanga's thick hominy soup with tripe, pork, beans, potatoes and pasta
Bucaramanga's Mercado Central and the Sunday family tables of Santander serve mute, a big, thick soup that takes most of a day: hominy corn, honeycomb beef tripe and pork ribs, plus red beans, potatoes, pumpkin, cabbage and a handful of short pasta, all simmered until thick, rich and savoury. It is filling enough to be lunch on its own, eaten with avocado, ají and a piece of arepa. The tripe must be bought cleaned and bleached from the butcher and then simmered for two hours until tender; undercooked tripe is the most common complaint, as it stays chewy and tastes strong. This version uses cooked or tinned hominy and beans to save the overnight soaking. Chef's tip: rub the tripe with lime and salt and rinse it twice before cooking; it removes any farmyard smell and keeps the broth clean-tasting.
- Total time
- 240 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the meats
- 1 ⅓ lb beef honeycomb tripecleaned and bleached, from the butcher
- 1 limehalved
- 1 ½ lb pork ribscut into 5 cm pieces
- 16 ¾ cups water
- 6 spring onions3 whole, 3 chopped
- 5 garlic clovescrushed
- 1 tbsp salt
For the soup
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 ripe tomatoesgrated, skins discarded
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 ¾ lb cooked white hominydrained (tinned), or 300 g dried, soaked overnight and boiled until tender
- 14 oz cooked red kidney or cargamanto beansdrained
- 1 ⅓ lb potatoespeeled, cut into 3 cm chunks
- 10 ½ oz pumpkinpeeled, cut into 2 cm chunks
- 7 oz white cabbageshredded
- 3 ½ oz short macaroni
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
To serve
- ½ oz fresh coriander (optional)chopped
- 2 avocados (optional)sliced
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Rub 1 ⅓ lb beef honeycomb tripe all over with 1 lime and a little salt, rinse well under cold water, then repeat. Cut into 3 cm squares.
10 minStep 2: Put the tripe in a large pot with 16 ¾ cups water, the whole 3 spring onions, half of 2 ½ garlic cloves and 1 tbsp salt. Bring to the boil over a high heat and skim off the foam.
15 minStep 3: Lower the heat and simmer, half-covered, for 1 hour 30 minutes.
90 minStep 4: Add 1 ½ lb pork ribs and simmer for 45 minutes more, until the tripe is very tender when bitten and the pork pulls from the bone (well over 160°F). Discard the whole onions.
45 minStep 5: Heat 2 tbsp sunflower oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the chopped 3 spring onions and the rest of 2 ½ garlic cloves for 5 minutes, then add 2 ripe tomatoes and 1 tsp ground cumin and cook 5 minutes more, until thick. Stir it into the pot.
10 minStep 6: Add 1 ¾ lb cooked white hominy, 14 oz cooked red kidney or cargamanto beans, 1 ⅓ lb potatoes and 10 ½ oz pumpkin and simmer for 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the pumpkin starts to melt.
20 minStep 7: Add 7 oz white cabbage, 3 ½ oz short macaroni and ½ tsp ground black pepper and simmer for 10–12 minutes, stirring often, until the pasta is soft and the soup is thick. Add hot water if it gets too stiff.
12 minStep 8: Taste for salt and serve in deep bowls with ½ oz fresh coriander and 2 avocados.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 560 kcal
- Protein
- 36 g
- Carbs
- 56 g
- Fat
- 20 g
- Fibre
- 10 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does mute santandereano take?
- About 240 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 210 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- What can I use instead of lime?
- Lemon, same amount.
- What can I use instead of spring onions?
- Chives, or a little finely sliced onion.
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