Sopa De Entulho (Rubble Soup)
Submitted by chach
Portuguese rubble soup with dried red beans, bacon, pumpkin, turnips, carrots, potatoes, and hand-torn cabbage. Even better with a ham bone simmered in the pot.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
140 minCOOK
60 minREADY
3 hrsSopa de entulho translates to “rubble soup” because you throw in every sturdy vegetable you’ve got, and the result is pure rustic Portuguese comfort.
This version adds bacon to the pot, cutting it into small pieces that render down and season the broth as the dried red beans slowly cook tender. A clove-studded onion flavors the liquid, then gets discarded before the vegetables go in.
Turnips, carrots, and pumpkin cubes go first, then potatoes and hand-torn turnip greens and cabbage join the party. Each vegetable enters at just the right time so nothing gets overcooked.
The old-school move is to drop a teaspoon of white wine vinegar into each bowl before ladling in the hot soup. A splash of piri-piri or Tabasco on top if you like heat.
Kitchen Tips
- Resist the temptation to use canned beans. Dried beans cooked from scratch give the broth body and a silky richness that canned beans simply can’t match.
- A ham bone simmered with the beans transforms this soup entirely. If there’s meat left on the bone, shred it and stir it back in before serving.
- Hand-shred the cabbage into large pieces rather than slicing it. The irregular edges soak up more broth and have better texture in the bowl.
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the beans for a few hours; fill a large pan with 4 pintt cold water, press the cloves into the onion, as if there were pins, and add to the pan with the beans.
(resist the temptation to use canned beans; it’s worth the extra trouble).
Add the bacon cut into small pieces.
When the beans are tender add the turnip cut into small cubes, the carrots sliced thinly and the pumpkin slice cut into large cubes.
Discard the onion.
When the carrots are almost cooked add the potato, peeled and cut into small cubes, the washed leaves of the turnip broken into medium size pieces by hand, and the leaves of the cabbage hand-shred into large pieces.
Let everything cook together for a while, until soft.
Place a teaspoon of vinegar in each bowl, and fill with the hot soup.
Some soup lovers will add a dash of piri-piri sauce, or of Tabasco.
The soup will taste even better if you boil a ham bone with the beans.
If there is any meat left in the bone shred it and add to the soup.
Discard the bone.
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