Mondongo

Ingredients

Tripe

• 1.5 kgbeef tripe
• 2limes
• 3 tbspvinegar
• 2 tbspcoarse salt
• 500 gpig’s trotter or beef shin, optional

Sofrito

• 2onions, chopped
• 1red pepper
• 1green pepper
• 6 clovesgarlic
• 3tomatoes
• 1 bunchcoriander and culantro
• 4spring onions
• 3 tbspoil
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspachiote or paprika

Vegetables

• 3potatoes, in chunks
• 2carrots
• 200 gpumpkin or auyama
• 1chayote
• 200 gcooked chickpeas
• 2corn cobs, in rounds
• 1green plantain

To serve

• white rice
• lime wedges
• hot sauce
• avocado

Directions

1. Rinse it thoroughly again afterwards, since any lingering vinegar will sour the soup. Some cooks repeat the lime and salt treatment twice, which is worth doing if the tripe smells strong.
2. Bring the tripe to a boil in fresh water and boil it hard for ten to fifteen minutes. Drain it, rinse it, and wash out the pot before starting again. Do not skip this, since the difference between a clean-tasting mondongo and a muddy one is decided entirely here.
3. Cut the tripe into strips about a centimetre wide and five centimetres long. Cut it before the long simmer rather than after, since cooked tripe is slippery and difficult to handle.
4. Cover the tripe with fresh water and simmer it for two and a half to three hours. Tripe needs genuinely long cooking to become tender, and undercooked it is rubbery in a way nothing later can fix.
5. Keep the cooking liquid, which is the base of the soup. Fry the onions and peppers in oil for ten minutes until soft. Add the garlic, cumin and achiote, then the chopped tomatoes, and cook it down for eight minutes.
6. Cook the sofrito properly rather than briefly, since a soup this long-cooked needs a properly built base. Achiote gives the warm orange colour that mondongo should have. Add the sofrito to the tripe and its cooking liquid and simmer for twenty minutes. Now add the vegetables in order of how long they take.
7. Simmer for a further thirty to forty minutes until everything is tender. Taste and season firmly with salt. Season it well at the end, since a large pot of tripe and vegetables absorbs a great deal. Stir in the chopped coriander off the heat. Serve it in deep bowls with white rice on the side or spooned in. Serve lime wedges, hot sauce and avocado at the table.

Technique

• The tripe must be scrubbed with salt and lime, then parboiled, before cooking.
• It needs two and a half to three hours of simmering to become tender.
• Vegetables go in by stages rather than all at once.

Substitutions

• A pressure cooker to soften the tripe far faster.
• Coriander in place of culantro, added late.

Variations

• Colombian mondongo, often with chorizo and hogao.
• Dominican mondongo, with a different vegetable mix.
• Made with pig’s trotter as well as tripe.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mondongo?

Mondongo is a soup & stew from Venezuela: slow tripe soup with vegetables and legumes, weekend restorative.

How long does Mondongo take to make?

Mondongo takes 45 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 3 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Mondongo?

Yes, within limits. A pressure cooker to soften the tripe far faster. Coriander in place of culantro, added late.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mondongo?

Bring the tripe to a boil in fresh water and boil it hard for ten to fifteen minutes. Drain it, rinse it, and wash out the pot before starting again. Do not skip this, since the difference between a clean-tasting mondongo and a muddy one is decided entirely here.