Beef Soup

INGREDIENTS:

 

2 lbs stewing beef

1 lb salted beef

2 tbsp fresh green seasoning (optional)

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 corn, each cut into four pieces

2 carrots cut into coins

¼ lb pumpkin (kabocha or calabaza squash), cut up

1 cho cho/chayote, cut up

2 potatoes (Gold Yukon or Irish), cut up

2 medium yams (white or yellow) or boniato/Caribbean sweet potato (according to preference), cut up

1 tsp pimento seeds/allspice berries

2 scallion stalks

4 thyme sprigs

1 whole scotch bonnet pepper (or 2 for added spice)

1 pumpkin soup packet

1 tbsp beef seasoning

1 packet of sazon without annatto (approx. 1.5 tsp)

Dumplings: 1.5 cup all-purpose flour, ½ tsp salt, less than ½ cup water

Lots of hot water on hand (keep a kettle full at all times)

 

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

 

1) Desalinate the salt beef by boiling it twice with fresh water (enough to cover the meat by two inches) on medium-high heat, 20 minutes each time.

 

2) Season the fresh beef with green seasoning, if desired, and/or 1.5 tsp of the beef seasoning. (You'll add the rest of the beef seasoning later.) Add the lightly seasoned beef to a pressure cooker with the desalinated beef and garlic. Ensure that there is enough water in the pressure cooker to cover the contents by two inches. Pressure cook for 20 minutes on medium-high heat.

 

3) Once pressured, transfer the contents to a large soup pot. Add the prepared vegetables and enough water to cover the contents of the pot by about two inches. Give the pot a stir. Add the pumpkin soup packet (sieve out the noodles if desired), beef seasoning, and sazon, and give the pot a stir again. Boil the soup on medium-high heat for 20 minutes.

 

4) While the soup is boiling, prepare the dumplings. Add the salt to the flour, then gradually add water (somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 cup) to form a firm dough that is not shaggy or sticky. Let the dough rest for 5-10 minutes, then form your dumplings into long, thin spinners and/or round dumplings.

 

5) Remove the scotch bonnet pepper from the pot. Add the dumplings to the pot, then gently stir. Add more water, if needed. (At this point, add water only if you prefer a thinner soup.) Allow the soup to boil for another 20-25 minutes.

 

6) Taste for salt and adjust seasonings to desired taste.

 

Serve and enjoy!