El Sancocho Prieto o wait I mean Sancocho Veggie, or Puerto Rican root vegetable stew, is something that many of us love to eat and reminds us of our moms or abuelas. It is also something that in my family we would eat the night before Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve.
The Sancocho that many of us are used to eating also has proteins which go against being a vegan or vegetarian. Take out the proteins, add @Gardein Homestyle Beefless Tips, and you have a savory vegetarian hearty stew.
What goes into Sancocho? I know my mom would put whatever root vegetable she could find during the different seasons in Connecticut. Know you can find ready-made bags of all sorts of roots vegetables, peeled, cut, and ready to dump in your pot! No more taking the spoon to open up the platanos or guineos.
I asked my friends and family members what root vegetable / vegetable they add to their sancocho. Here is what they said:
Yazmin: Potatoes
Sara: Corn on the cob
Idalyn: Batata
Carmen: ñame y batata
Ingredients: (If you go to a Spanish Grocer or look in the Spanish section of where the vegetables are, the names of the root vegetables will more likely be in Spanish and not English)
1 Guineo Verde
1 Platano
1 Corn on the cob sliced
These root vegetables will be cubed into chunks like the picture of the ready-prepped package. Purchase one of each or omit whatever root vegetable you don’t want to try. All of these are dry and tasteless with the exception of Batata which has a sweet taste.
1 Yautia
1 Yucca
1 Malanga
1 Potato cubed
1 Batata
1 Calabaza (not the one used for Halloween. Purchase a small chunk from the grocery store.)
1 ñame
1 Tablespoon Sofrito (onion, tomato, garlic, green pepper, cilantro pureed)
1 tablespoon of Tomato paste or 8oz can of Tomato Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 packet of Sazon con Ajo
1 vegetable bullion cube (Note: This is a vegan/vegetarian recipe so don’t use chicken or beef cullion cubes)
Deep Stew pot
6 cups of Water (Enough to cover the vegetables. Also depends on how deep your pot is and how much root vegetable you purchased and cut.)
2 tablespoon of Olive Oil
1 Bay leaf
Instructions:
Here is where you can save time with the pre-peeled and cut root vegetables and put everything in the pot.
Peel and cut all of the root vegetables into cubes except for the corn, green banana, and plantain. Those will obviously be cut into circles.
Add the olive oil to the deep stew pot on medium heat, sautee the sofrito and @Gardein Homestyle Beefless Tips. These should brown for at least 3-4 minutes according to the package. Add Sazon con Ajo packet and the vegetable buillon cube.
Add water to cover over the root vegetables and add the tomato paste or sauce. Stir until the tomato paste or sauce is completely dissolved and incorporated into the water.
By this time, the vegetable cube should have dissolved and you will add Salt and Pepper to taste.
You will add the pre-packaged root vegetables or the ones you cut. If you think that there is too much root vegetable, save some in a baggie and freeze.
Add the bay leaf and bring to a boil, then down to a simmer. Cooking time is about an hour or until all the root vegetables are fork tender.
What Root Vegetables are your Favorite in Sancocho?
Disclosure: We where given products by Gardein in appreciation from one of our previous posts on their great products. Even though part of the ingredients (beefless tips) where provided by @Gardein we don’t feel that this influenced the writing of this post in any way.
