Cuchuco de Maíz (Colombian Cracked Corn Soup)

5 from 1 vote

Cuchuco de maíz is a thick soup from the Boyacá highlands of Colombia, made with cracked corn, bone-in pork or beef, potatoes and peas. The corn soaks overnight and then simmers with the meat until it swells and thickens the broth into a full meal in a bowl.

Prep Time10

Cook Time1 30

Soaking8

Total Time9 40

Course: Soups

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: cuchuco soup

Servings:

Calories: 835kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

¾ cup cuchuco (cracked corn) sold as cuchuco de maíz in Latin stores; coarse grits are the closest US substitute
6½ cups water about 1.5 liters
4 pieces bone-in pork spine or beef ribs about 1½ lb / 650 g; keep the bone, it makes the broth
Fresh cilantro, chopped, to taste the leaf, not the seed
½ onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, grated or diced
½ cup green peas
½ lb potatoes, peeled and chopped about 225 g; waxy potatoes hold their shape better
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt, to taste

Instructions

If you bought whole corn, grind it coarsely first; cuchuco sold ready-made already comes cracked. Put it in a bowl, cover it with plenty of water and leave it to soak overnight.
The next day, drain the corn in a strainer and rinse it about three times, until the water runs clear instead of cloudy.
Put the corn, the water, the pork spine or beef ribs, the cilantro and the onion into a pot. Season with salt.
Cook for 60 minutes, or 30 minutes in a pressure cooker. By the end the grain should have swollen and started to soften.
Add the potatoes, the carrot, the peas and the garlic.
Taste and adjust the salt, then simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes more, until the potatoes are breaking at the edges and the soup has thickened. If it still looks watery, give it longer: cuchuco thickens with time, not with more grain.
Serve straight away, with a little more chopped cilantro on top.

Nutrition