Sancocho comes into the Panamanian culture from the Spanish, and there are myriad versions around, both here an in other Latin American countries.
Typically tipico Panamanian sancocho is made with a cut up stewing chicken and local tubers like yucca, ñame or otoes as the basic ingredients. In some of the Colombian, Ecuadoran and Dominican versions, people put coconut milk or plantain chunks in their sancocho.
Panamanian sancocho de pollo comes with the chicken bones in it, and some of the seafood sancochos come with fish bones, even fish heads. But the bones are a bit sloppy and inconvenient for my tastes.
This is a seafood sancocho, a personal adaptation of a Panamanian version I've encountered in various places. Basically you want recognizable chunks of stuff in a thin broth whose principal flavors are seafood, vegetables and culantro, but within those parameters you can make all sorts of substitutions of ingredients.
Depending on what else is on the menu and how much people like to eat, this following recipe serves about 10 people. When sancocho is the main course, it’s usually served with a bowl of white rice on the side.
Ingredients:
• 1 gallon of water
• 1 large Spanish onion, peeled and diced
• 1 small package of vegetable broth powder
• 1 small package of dried shrimp
• 2 sun-dried tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large red sweet pepper, stem, seeds and pulp removed, diced
• 2 lb. of red snapper filets, cut crosswise into 1” wide strips
• 1 medium-small octopus, cleaned, steamed and cooled, skin slime removed and cut into pieces
• 1 lb. of scallops
• 3 lb. of ñame, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 6 leaves of culantro, cut crosswise into quarter-inch strips
• 3 ears of fresh corn on the cob, cut into 2” pieces
• salt and white pepper to taste
Directions:
• Combine the water, onions, powdered broth, shrimp, tomatoes and olive oil in a large pot, bring to a rapid boil
• Turn heat down to low
• Add all of the other ingredients except for the salt and pepper, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour, until the carrot and ñame chunks are tender but still retain their shapes
• Season with salt and pepper, stir, turn off the heat, cover and let the soup slowly cool down for 10 or 15 minutes
• When you serve it, make sure that everyone gets a bit of everything and at least one chunk of corn on the cob in his or her bowl
