Sancoche

Ingredients

Salt meat

• 400 gsalt beef or salted pigtail
• water, for soaking

Split peas

• 300 gyellow split peas

Ground provisions

• 400 gcassava, peeled and cut in chunks
• 2green plantains, in chunks
• 300 gyam, in chunks
• 2sweet potatoes, in chunks
• 300 gdasheen or taro, in chunks
• 2green bananas, in chunks

Base

• 2onions, chopped
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 sprigsfresh thyme
• 4spring onions, sliced
• 1whole scotch bonnet, unbroken
• 2 tbspoil
• black pepper

Coconut

• 2 tinscoconut milk

Dumplings

• 250 gplain flour
• 1/2 tspsalt
• 150 mlwater

To serve

• as a whole meal in deep bowls

Directions

1. Salt beef and salted pigtail are heavily cured and very salty. They must be soaked before use or the whole pot is inedible. Cover the meat with cold water and soak it overnight. Change the water two or three times if you can. Drain the soaked meat and put it in a pot of fresh water. Bring it to the boil and boil for ten minutes.
2. Drain that water off and taste a small piece. If it is still very salty, boil it again in fresh water. Cut it into chunks once it is manageable. Rinse the split peas and pick them over. Put them in a large pot with the salt meat. Cover them with water and bring to a simmer.
3. Simmer them for forty-five minutes. The peas should begin to break down. Peel the cassava thickly, removing the pink underskin. Cut out the woody central fibre, which never softens. Cassava must be cooked through, since raw cassava is toxic.
4. Oil your hands before peeling the green plantains and bananas. Peel the yam, dasheen and sweet potato. Cut everything into large chunks. Keep them in water until needed so they do not brown. Building the base is done in the same pot.
5. Add the chopped onions and cook them for six minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and spring onions. Add the whole scotch bonnet without piercing it. Adding the provisions is done by cooking time.
6. Add the cassava and yam first, since they take longest. Simmer them for fifteen minutes. Add the plantain, dasheen, green banana and sweet potato. Add water to cover everything. Simmer for another fifteen minutes. Making the dumplings is done while it cooks. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.
7. Add the water gradually and bring it to a firm dough. Knead it briefly until smooth. Let the dough rest for ten minutes. Grenadian dumplings are often rolled into short thin cylinders.
8. Roll pieces of dough between your palms into small logs. Keep them small, since they swell considerably. Adding them to the pot is done near the end. Drop the dumplings into the simmering soup. Do not stir the pot hard afterwards. Pour in the tinned coconut milk. Do not let it boil hard, since coconut milk splits.
9. Simmer it for fifteen minutes more. It should be thick and stewy rather than soupy. Add hot water if it has gone too thick to stir. Remove the whole pepper and the thyme stems. Taste it before adding any salt at all. The salt meat usually provides enough. Add plenty of ground black pepper. Serving it is done in deep bowls.

Technique

• Soak and then boil the salt meat, discarding the water, or the whole pot is inedible.
• Cassava must be cooked through, since raw cassava contains cyanogenic compounds.
• Taste before adding any salt at the end, as the cured meat usually provides enough.

Substitutions

• Smoked ham hock in place of salt beef, using less soaking.
• Any combination of ground provisions, since it takes what is available.

Variations

• Made with salted fish instead of meat.
• With chicken added alongside the salt meat.
• Made without coconut milk, which some households prefer.

History

A Saturday pot in Grenada and the wider southern Caribbean, cooked slowly with coconut milk.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sancoche?

Sancoche is a soup & stew from Grenada: thick soup of salt meat, ground provisions, split peas and dumplings. A Saturday pot in Grenada and the wider southern Caribbean, cooked slowly with coconut milk.

How long does Sancoche take to make?

Sancoche takes 40 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 2 hours of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Sancoche?

Yes, within limits. Smoked ham hock in place of salt beef, using less soaking. Any combination of ground provisions, since it takes what is available.

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

Salt beef and salted pigtail are heavily cured and very salty. They must be soaked before use or the whole pot is inedible. Cover the meat with cold water and soak it overnight. Change the water two or three times if you can. Drain the soaked meat and put it in a pot of fresh water. Bring it to the boil and boil for ten minutes.