Mondongo Soup (Colombian Tripe Soup)
Mondongo is the Colombian tripe soup: beef tripe cleaned with lemon, boiled with baking soda, then cooked with pork, chorizo, cassava and potato until thick. It belongs to Antioquia and the coffee region, where it is weekend food. Closer to a meal than a soup. Serves six.
Servings: 6
Calories: 415kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb beef tripe about 450 g; buy it cleaned and bleached, sold as honeycomb tripe
- 1 lemon for scrubbing the tripe
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda tenderises the tripe and cuts the smell
- 1 tomato, diced
- 3 scallions, finely chopped
- 1 lb pork meat about 450 g
- 4 potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 lb cassava, peeled and diced about 450 g; frozen yuca works
- ½ lb green beans, diced
- ½ lb green peas
- 3 chorizos, sliced or diced Colombian chorizo, fresh not cured
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Colouring (achiote), to taste for colour only
- Fresh cilantro, chopped the leaf, not the seed
- Water enough to cover
Instructions
- First, wash the tripe thoroughly so it does not carry its smell into the soup: rinse it in warm water and rub it all over with the lemon.
- Cut the tripe into small pieces and put it in a pressure cooker with water and the baking soda. Cook for about 45 minutes. The baking soda helps tenderise it and takes down the smell. Drain and discard this first water: that is where the smell goes.
- Return the tripe to the pressure cooker and add the diced pork, chorizo, peas, green beans, tomato, garlic, scallions, colouring and cumin. Add water to cover and season with salt and pepper.
- Cook under pressure for another 10 to 12 minutes.
- Release the pressure, add the cassava and potatoes, and cook again for about 15 minutes, until they are soft and starting to break at the edges.
- Open the pot, stir in the chopped cilantro, taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve hot, with rice and avocado.
Notes
Add the potato and cassava at the end, as in step 5: they cook much faster than the tripe and disintegrate if they go in early. You can leave the pot semi-covered for the last 10 minutes, which is also enough time to finish chopping anything you have left.
Nutrition
Calories: 415kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 121mg | Sodium: 128mg | Potassium: 1115mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 2437IU | Vitamin C: 56mg | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 6mg