Caribbean Recipes – Soup Joumou

News Americas, MIAMI, FL, Dec. 31, 2020:  This weekend’s recipe is native to Haiti and is a famous mildly spicy soup. Haitian tradition holds that the soup was enjoyed by the slave masters on the former French colony, while the Haitian slaves were forbidden it. Consequently, Soup Joumou is traditionally consumed on New Year’s Day, (January 1st), as a historical tribute to Haitian independence in 1804.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb of beef

1/2 cup of olive oil

water as needed

1 large scallion, diced

1 half medium cabbage, diced

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 yam, peeled and chopped

2 malanga, peeled and chopped

2 butternut squash, peeled and chopped

2 turnips, peeled and chopped

1 stalk of celery chopped

3 medium carrots, chopped

1 6 oz. package of spaghetti

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1 scotch bonnet pepper

4 parsley sprigs

Meat seasoning spices:

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp thyme

2 shallots, diced

1 tsp Adobo seasoning salt

2 Maggi chicken bouillon cubes

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

METHOD

Meat

1. Marinate the meat overnight or for at least 1 hour.
2. Place the seasoned meat in a stockpot and cover with water.
3. Add oil and let boil over high heat. Keep covered until the water has evaporated.
4. Uncover, stir and simmer a few drops of water occasionally to brown the meat.
5. Keep stirring and simmer water occasionally until you have a nice browning color to the meat
6. Stir in one tbsp of tomato paste. Remove meat and set aside pot for the vegetables.

Vegetables

1. In a separate bowl, cut into small pieces the large scallions and half medium cabbage.
2. Peel and chop the potato, yam, malanga, butternut squash, carrots, and turnip.
3. Wash the vegetables. Add to a separate pot of boiling water.
4. Cover and cook over high heat for about an hour. Reduce heat and add scotch bonnet pepper.
5. Once the squash is fully cooked, remove it from the pot. Use some of the cooking water to blend the squash into a puree.
6. For best flavoring, pour the cooked vegetables, the squash puree and cooking liquid into the pot that cooked the meat.
7. Add parsley, thyme, and broken spaghetti (or substitute with macaroni).
8. Let it all cook, until tender.
9. Combine meat into soup. Serve hot.

Tip: Clean the meat with lime and/or sour orange juice. Season well for a few hours. For best results, refrigerate overnight.

Cooking Time – 2 hours

Servings – 6-8