Hen Sancocho (Broth)

This is a typical Venezuelan sunday brunch dish. If you like hot dishes, add all the peppers to your personal taste! This recipe is very flexible. You can add or remove ingredients, and vary subjectively all the proportions at your whim, taste, and judgement.

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Serves: 6-8
• Yields: 8

Ingredients

• 1  chicken, cut into eighths, preferably an older hen, skinned, with bone
• 3  potatoes, large
• 2  carrots, large
• 1  sprig cilantro
• 1  scallion top, whole
• 1  tomatoes, cut into eighths
• 1  onion, small, whole, and cut in half
• 3  garlic cloves, minced
• 4  corn cobs, cut into 1 to 2-inch thick slices
• 400  g pumpkin, diced large
• 350  g celeriac
• 350  g yucca root
• 1⁄2 red bell pepper, sliced in half
• 1⁄2 green cabbage, roughly chopped
• 1  tablespoon rice (optional)
• 2  tablespoons pasta (optional)
• 1  egg, whole, raw (optional)
• 1  green plantain, cut into 6 slices (optional)
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
• 3  liters water

Directions

1. Prepare the vegetable first by dicing, seeding, and pealing. Clean and cut the corn cobbs. Take the outer skins off of the potatoes, pumpkin, celeriac, and yucca. Peel and slice the plantains. Wash everything and place all vegetables in a pan full of water.
2. In a large 5 quart pan, start to cook the hen. If you are using a younger, more tender chicken, begin cooking process 15 minutes later. Start by cooking the hard vegetables first.
3. Add the seasoning: garlic. bell pepper, onion, tomato, cilantro, scallion, and salt.
4. Add the hard vegetables: the carrots, corn cobbs, and yucca. Keep the water level well above the veggies.
5. Cover, put the heat to max. and boil. Set to low and simmer for 1/2 hour.
6. By this time, the vegetables should start to soften or cook; add the rest of the (soft) vegetables, such as the potatoes, and at this stage, add also the rice, pasta, the cabbage, and the egg (if you want to, because some of these ingredientes are optonal) the cleriac, plantains, and the pumpkin, last.
7. Cover and simmer for another 20 minutes until all vegetables soften and cook. Don't overcook because some of the vegetables will dissolve and their taste will be lost. Add more water and salt as you go throught the entire process so the pan will not dry and the level is always kept above the vegetables.
8. TO SERVE: Put the broth in a separate serving dish.
9. Fill 1/2 of the individual soup plates with the broth. Divide the hen amongst the plates. Now add equal assorted vegetable portions to each plate or according to each one's preferneces.
10. Some persons like their soup and hen in one plate and the veggies in another one.