Shambar

A thick wheat and bean soup where the wheat is soaked overnight and cooked before anything else goes near the pot.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

• 200 g pearled wheat
• 150 g chickpeas
• 150 g dried broad beans
• 100 g green peas, dried
• 1 smoked ham hock
• 300 g pork belly, in pieces
• 150 g bacon or cecina, diced
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons ají panca paste
• 1 tablespoon ají amarillo paste, as on its own page
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 3 litres water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• salt and black pepper
• toasted maize and sliced red onion, to serve

Method

1. THE WHEAT IS SOAKED OVERNIGHT AND COOKED BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE GOES NEAR THE POT. Twelve hours in cold water, then an hour of simmering on its own with the ham hock before a single bean or aromatic is added. Pearled wheat takes far longer than anything else in this soup and it will not be hurried: put in with the rest, it is still chalky when the beans have collapsed, and by the time it is soft the soup is a purée.
2. AND EVERY PULSE IS SOAKED OVERNIGHT SEPARATELY, because they do not take the same time either. Chickpeas and dried broad beans are slow, dried peas much faster. Soaked together in one bowl is fine; added to the pot together is not.
3. THE BROAD BEANS ARE SKINNED AFTER SOAKING. The skins come away between finger and thumb and they never soften, so left on they float through the finished soup as leathery shells.
4. IT IS MEANT TO BE THICK ENOUGH TO STAND A SPOON IN. Not a broth. If a spoon falls over, it reduces further; some of the pulses are crushed against the side of the pot near the end, which thickens it without flour.
5. NO SALT UNTIL THE END. A smoked hock, bacon and cecina are all cured, and three hours of reduction concentrates them.
6. AND IT IS BETTER THE NEXT DAY, considerably, which is worth knowing before cooking three litres of it.
7. Wheat and all the pulses soaked SEPARATELY in cold water OVERNIGHT, at least 12 hours. The broad beans skinned after soaking.
8. The ham hock and the drained wheat put in a large pot with the water, brought to the boil and skimmed.
9. Simmered 1 HOUR.
10. Meanwhile the pork belly and bacon fried in the oil until the fat runs. The onions softened in it 10 minutes, the garlic 1 minute, then the ají panca and the ají amarillo paste, made as on its own page -- fried 3 minutes with the cumin.
11. That mixture added to the pot with the chickpeas and broad beans.
12. Simmered 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES.
13. The dried peas added and cooked 30 MINUTES more, until everything is tender.
14. The hock lifted out, the meat picked off and returned, the bone discarded.
15. Some of the pulses CRUSHED against the side of the pot and stirred through to thicken it. The oregano rubbed between the palms and added.
16. Tasted and salted NOW. Served very thick, with toasted maize and raw red onion on top.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Peru · All recipes