Cocido (stew)

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Stew is one of the most typical Spanish meals, probably with an inheritance in the Arabian Spain because its main ingredient is chickpeas, but also very very Castilian due to a large amount of meat it can contain. It is one of the dishes known as "food for the poor" because its origin is in the era in which only one meal was made per day because the rest of the time you were working, so back then that food had to contain many things and many ingredients to be able to take in all necessary nutrients for the body at one time, so this food contains vegetables, legumes and meat.

The ingredients are: chickpeas, potatoes, carrots and various meats (the best thing is to go to a butcher shop and ask them for meat to prepare "cocido" or go to Mercadona and buy prepared meat, which is in the meat zone). If you want to make soup you will also need noodles, although you can eat the soup on its own, which is very delicious.

It is a dish that needs attention and time but it is very worthwhile since it usually feeds you twice and also it is great, it triumphs among everyone who tries it, especially among foreigners.

You need to start making the dish the night before when the chickpeas are put in water to make them soft. Put 3 measures of chickpeas (the measurement is taken with a glass of a normal size, to drink water).

The meat preparation usually consists of a bone of ham, 2 different types of bacon, a chicken thigh and some veal. Put everything in water except the chicken thigh and veal, and leave it for about 40-50 minutes to lose salt, otherwise, the stew will turn out very salty and will be inedible. In the meantime, peel a carrot and two or three large potatoes, and leave them aside for later use.

Once the 40-50 minutes have passed, remove the bone and the bacon from the water and rinse it a little, and pour them into a pot without oil or anything, next to the chicken thigh and the veal. Then cover it with water and place it on medium heat. There will be foam coming off with the skimmer. The meat is left like this for half an hour and then the chickpeas, the potatoes and the carrot are added and another glass of water is poured on top. Leave it for about 10 minutes uncovered and do not remove the foam that shows as this will be used as the foundation for the soup.

If you have an express cooker, cover it and close it and leave it for about 20-25 minutes. If you have a normal pot then it will take about two hours and it will be necessary to skim the stew once in a while.

After the time stated above turn it off and remove it from the heat. Separate the chickpeas to the side with the potato and the carrot, on the other side the broth and on one side the meat. The broth can be put on the heat and add some noodles to the soup before the chickpeas. The meat can be mixed with the chickpeas, or even leave everything together, depends on how you like it, it is done differently everywhere. In fact, it is said that the stew is made in each house in a different way.

It is a dish that looks great and is especially great in winter to keep warm. Also, if it makes enough for two meals (these ingredients are for two people for two meals or for four people for a meal) you can store them in tuppers in the fridge or even freeze it.

Try it, it is a dish that can only be eaten in Spain because abroad they do not usually sell the good chickpeas (unless you go to gourmet shops and such) and you can find the necessary meat a lot less easily.

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