My family is from Panama City, Panama and therefore, I grew up with many cultural influences. Panama’s national dish and also what happens to be my favorite dish is Sancocho, a flavorful chicken soup. Growing up, I was a very picky eater and the only way my mother could get vegetables into me was through soup. Lucky for her, I could eat soup all day any day and can still now.
Every year, beginning at age 9, my mother and I have traveled to Panama for at least a week. The moment the plane hits the ground, my mouth begins to water at the thought of that unique flavor hitting my tastebuds. My aunt and uncle, who pick us up, know to drive straight to a restaurant that serves all of the traditional foods that my mother and I have missed, including sancocho. This is also a dish that my entire family enjoys. During family reunions, my mother or one of my aunts will make a large pot and the aroma travels through the entire house leaving everyone’s stomachs rumbling in anticipation. This soup also became my connection to my mother. It is the soup that she makes for me when I don’t feel well. We like to joke that my mother has a soup radar because every time I want soup, it happens to be already simmering on the stove when I get home. Sancocho is traditionally eaten with a side of rice and even though the broth of the sancocho is not particularly heavy, the added rice makes it very filling. The rice can either be mixed into the soup before eating it or a spoonful of the rice is taken and then dipped into the broth. I prefer the latter but many of my family members do the former.
Panamanian sancocho is said to have originated in the Azuero region of the country. However, there are many different types of Sancocho found in different regions of Panama and in many other Latin countries. There is Sancocho chorrerano, made in the city of La Chorrera which is a bit spicier than the traditional kind and Sancocho chiricano the province of Chiriqui, which is made with more ingredients. Every place makes their sancocho a bit different but fundamentally they are the same. It is claimed that eating a hot soup can help to cool down a person in a hot climate such as it always is in Panama. Most Panamanians are accustomed to eating warm foods in the scorching heat and sancocho is no exception. It is often used as a cure for sicknesses such as the common cold or as a cure for hangovers.
Panamanian Sancocho Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 roasting chicken, cut into pieces (you can also just use 3-4 whole chicken breasts)
- 3 teaspoons salt
- 4 Tbsp culantro, chopped (plus some leaves for the rub)
- 1 tablespoon cilantro, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 3 large onion, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 3 lbs yucca root, ñame, and/ or otoe, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 4 cups chicken stock (the kind bought in a box is fine)
- 2 plantains, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 can of corn, drained
- salt and pepper to taste
- Wash the chicken and pat dry.
- Rub chicken with Culantro leaves
- In a small bowl, mix the salt, cilantro, oregano, garlic, culantro and olive oil. Rubthe mix all over the chicken and let it marinate for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, peel and chop the yucca and the onion. Set aside.
- Heat a large pot over medium heat. Place the chicken in the pot, place a lid on it, and let it sweat for about 7 minutes.
- Add the onion and the chicken stock. Bring the soup to a boil and then let it simmer over medium low heat until the chicken is cooked through and soft.
- Raise the heat to medium and add the yucca, plantains and corn. Bring the pot to a gentle simmer and cook until the yucca is cooked through (approximately 10 minutes).
- Serve with white rice on the side that is added into the soup when you are about to eat it.
Hi, Brianka, thanks for sharing your favorite dish, Panamanian sancocho with us. I enjoyed reading about you and your mom’s annual trip to Panama, particularly when your aunt and uncle would drive you two directly to a local restaurant that serves traditional foods. I’m glad that sancocho has served as a tie connecting you to your family. I do wish you’d elaborate upon the personal and cultural significance of the soup in the same section. Now that you’ve started college and presumably have spent more time living alone, do you find your understanding of sancocho changed? How is it important for your self-conception? Have you tried making it on your own? Did you ever learned how to cook it from your mom? Your research paragraph is informative and zooms in on the variations of the soup. One question I’m curious about is how did Panamanian sancocho come into being? What makes it different from other chicken soups? The photos you posted are lovely; I only wished they were bigger!