AI-generated image
Sopa de pata
Cow's foot and tripe soup
Sopa de pata: El Salvador's slow-cooked cow's foot and tripe soup
Sunday is sopa de pata day in many Salvadoran towns, and market stalls in San Miguel and Santa Ana sell it from huge pots from early morning. Cow's foot and tripe are simmered for hours until the broth turns rich and sticky with gelatine, then corn, yuca, chayote and green plantain go in, with lime, chilli and tortillas on the side. Ask the butcher to cut the foot into pieces and buy tripe already cleaned and blanched. The big mistake is under-cooking: the tripe must be soft enough to cut with a spoon and the foot falling off the bone. Chef's tip: blanch the foot and tripe for 10 minutes and pour that water away before the long simmer; it gives a clean-tasting broth.
- Total time
- 240 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ lb cow's footcut into pieces by the butcher
- 1 ⅛ lb honeycomb tripecleaned, in 3 cm squares
- 3.5 litres water
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 onionchopped
- 4 cloves garliccrushed
- 2 tomatoeschopped
- 1 green pepperchopped
- 1 tsp achiote (annatto) paste
- 2 corn on the cobeach cut into 3
- 14 oz sweet cassava (yuca)peeled, in chunks
- 1 chayotepeeled, in chunks
- 1 green plantainpeeled, in 3 cm pieces
- ½ oz fresh corianderchopped
- ⅛ oz fresh mintchopped
To serve
- 2 limesin wedges
- 2 fresh chillies (optional)chopped
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Fresh ingredients (8)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Put 2 ¼ lb cow's foot and 1 ⅛ lb honeycomb tripe in a large pot of cold water, bring to the boil and boil for 10 minutes. Drain, rinse the pieces and clean the pot.
15 minStep 2: Return them to the pot with 3.5 litres water, 2 tsp salt, 1 onion, 4 cloves garlic, 2 tomatoes, 1 green pepper and 1 tsp achiote (annatto) paste. Simmer gently, partly covered, skimming now and then, until the tripe is very soft and the foot meat comes away from the bone.
165 minStep 3: Add 2 corn on the cob, 14 oz sweet cassava (yuca) and 1 green plantain and simmer for 20 minutes.
20 minStep 4: Add 1 chayote and cook for 10–15 minutes more until every vegetable is tender. Top up with hot water if the broth gets too thick.
15 minStep 5: Stir in ½ oz fresh coriander and ⅛ oz fresh mint, taste for salt and serve in deep bowls with 2 limes and 2 fresh chillies.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 480 kcal
- Protein
- 38 g
- Carbs
- 45 g
- Fat
- 16 g
- Fibre
- 6 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does sopa de pata take?
- About 240 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 210 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of garlic?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Tiyula itumBlack beef soup
Tiyula itum, 'black soup', is the pride of the Tausug people of Sulu in the far south of the Philippines, cooked for weddings, Eid celebrations and when guests come home. Beef (it is a halal, pork-free dish) is simmered with ginger, lemongrass and turmeric, then darkened with pamapa itum, a paste of grated coconut toasted until almost black and pounded with spices. The broth looks dramatic but tastes smoky, earthy and gently peppery, with heat from chillies. Serve it with plain rice. Chef's tip: toast the coconut slowly, stirring all the time, until it is very dark brown but not ashy; burnt-to-ash coconut tastes bitter and ruins the soup.
Filipino
Ful nabitSprouted fava bean soup
Sprouted beans are ladled out with their cooking liquor in Cairo homes when the weather turns cold or someone is feeling run down, and Egyptians swear by the broth as a pick-me-up. The beans are soaked and left to sprout for a few days, then simmered with onion, garlic and cumin into a light, earthy soup that is sharpened at the table with plenty of lemon. You can eat the beans with a spoon or pop them from their skins. Allow 3 to 4 days for sprouting, although the hands-on work is only about 20 minutes. People with G6PD deficiency (favism) must not eat fava beans. Chef's tip: stop the sprouting when the shoots are about 1 cm long; longer sprouts taste grassy and bitter.
Egyptian
BabboucheSpiced snail broth
After dark in Marrakech's great square, the babbouche stalls are recognisable by their steaming cauldrons and the toothpicks laid out by every bowl. Small land snails simmer in a dark broth of liquorice root, aniseed, thyme, caraway, bitter orange peel, chilli and a bundle of herbs that sellers say has fifteen ingredients, believed to soothe the stomach and warm you on a cold night. You pick the snails out with a toothpick, then drink the peppery, herbal, faintly sweet broth. At home, buy live snails sold for cooking, already purged by a reputable seller, discard any with broken shells or that do not move or retract when touched, and cook them through for at least 45 minutes. Chef's tip: keep the spices in a muslin bag; the broth stays clear and you avoid crunching on seeds.
Moroccan