Sopa de Chorotes: Cundiboyacense Stuffed Dumpling Soup
Sopa de Chorotes is a magnificent, hearty soup traditional to the Andean highlands of Colombia. It is a rich, meat-heavy broth featuring completely unique corn dough dumplings (“chorotes”) that are heavily stuffed with a savory mixture of ground meats and boiled eggs.
The secret to this 1-hour and 20-minute recipe is building layers of flavor. The meats are boiled first to create a rich base broth. That very same broth is then used to hydrate the corn flour for the dumplings. Once the dough is shaped into little “pots” and stuffed, they are boiled directly in the soup, creating an incredibly thick, comforting, and unforgettable meal!
Sopa de Chorotes (Stuffed Dumpling Soup)
A monumental Andean soup! Rich broth featuring unique corn dumplings shaped like little clay pots, stuffed with ground meats and boiled eggs.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Corn flour Harina de maíz
- 2 lbs Beef
- 2 lbs Pork
- 1 Large chicken
- 5 Eggs
- 2 lbs Sabanera potatoes Firm red potatoes
- 5 Red onions
- 3 Scallion stalks Green onions
- 1/2 lb Butter
- Salt to taste
- Cumin to taste
Instructions
- Cook the base broth: The very first step is to place the beef, pork, whole chicken, and the sabanera potatoes into a very large pot with plenty of water. Add the scallions and seasonings to taste, and cook until all the meats are perfectly tender.
- Shred and grind: Once everything is cooked, carefully remove the meats from the pot. Shred the chicken completely and set it aside. Take the beef and pork and grind them up very finely. Crucial: Do not throw away the cooking water; reserve this rich broth!
- Prepare the dough: Skim off some of the excess fat from the top of the reserved broth. Take a little bit of this warm broth and gradually mix it into your corn flour. Knead vigorously until you achieve a smooth dough that is neither too wet nor too dry.
- Prepare the filling: Hard-boil the 5 eggs and grate them. In a separate pan, make the filling stew: sauté the finely chopped red onions in the butter, then add the ground beef and pork, and the grated hard-boiled eggs. Mix very well and season perfectly with salt and cumin.
- Shape the chorotes: Take a small portion of the corn dough and flatten it into a small arepa. Place a spoonful of the meat filling in the center. Using both hands, carefully mold the dough around the filling to form the shape of a "chorote" (it should have a rounded, bulging bottom and a narrow, closed top).
- Boil the dumplings: Bring your reserved broth back to a rolling boil. Carefully drop all the assembled chorotes into the boiling broth. (Chef's Hack: You can drop any leftover bits of plain corn dough into the broth to help thicken it!) Let them cook for about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Serve: Traditionally, this is served in two parts. Serve the deep soup with several chorotes in a bowl. On a separate flat plate, serve the reserved shredded chicken alongside white rice, an avocado and tomato salad, onions, vinegar, and hot sauce (ají)!
Video
Notes
- What is a Chorote?: In Colombia, a “chorote” refers to a specific type of traditional clay pot or vessel used by the indigenous cultures of the high plateau. They are easily recognized by their bulging bottom, single handle, and narrow mouth—the exact shape you are aiming for when molding the dumplings!
- Award-Winning Heritage: The cultural significance of this dish is immense. The group “San Lorenzo de Abajo”, which included the traditional cook Alejandro “Lelé” Becerra, won the prestigious 2012 National Award for Traditional Colombian Cuisines in the “Reproduction” category for this exact recipe, an honor granted directly by the Ministry of Culture.
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