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Welcome to the Local Cuisine page! Every month we will feature a recipe
for a typical Aruban dish or delicacy. You can print out this page and start
up your own Aruban recipe book! If you're interested, you can also check out some
of the experts on Aruban cuisine.
This Month's Recipe:
Sopi Mondongo
By Wijkie Maduro.
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Wijkie Maduro, and
Aruba-born resident, has made a life-long commitment to preservation and preparation of
Aruban cooking. Wijkie retired from a career in politics and labor union work to open a
restaurant, now sadly closed, that offered "what our great-grandmothers cooked; the
lavish and sometimes complex Aruban cooking". His recipes have been refined over the
years from their earliest beginnings as sustenance for the first Indian settlers to the
multi-everything-and-everyone's influences that followed. |
Reprinted
with kind permission from "Aruba Cooks" by Linda H. Shapiro,
published in 1997, page 9.
Pierre Corneillestraat 1, Oranjestad, Aruba, Dutch Caribbean. |
This book is available for purchase from the Aruba Gastronomic
Association (AGA). Click
here for more information |
Serves 4.
Before preparing this recipe, hang up your hamaca (hammock) in a cool shady spot. It will
be necessary to rest a bit after enjoying this soul-food soup.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound cleaned cow's stomach, cut into
chunks (or substitute tripe)
- 1 pound cow's heel (the jelly adds flavor) See
note
- 1 pound cow's white-bone (the marrow is also
a flavor-adder)
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, to
taste
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 beef boullion cubes
- 1 3/4 quarts of water
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 large green bell pepper, diced
- 1 stalk celery with leaves, diced
- 4-5 fresh basil leaves
- 1 sweet potato, peeled, cut in chunks
- 1 plantain, peeled, cut in chunks
- 1/2 calabas (West Indian pumpkin) or Hubbard
squash, cut in chunks
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- "just a touch" ground cumin
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
In large kettle place cow meat, heel and bone with salt, freshly ground pepper in water
and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and cook for 2 1/2 hours or until meat is
soft.
Strain and return stock to kettle. Add
remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat to meadium, and cook for an
additional 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Let rest for 10 minutes and serve.
Note: If heel not
available, add enough bone to equal 2 pounds.
Bon Appetit!
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