Cocido (Valencian Winter stew)

A comforting stew made with vegetables on the side to pick and choose as you like.


Hola!

Today I bring you my veganised version of a traditional stew that is very popular in Spain: puchero or cocido, which I translated as Valencian winter stew. It is a simple broth made with vegetables that give such a nice flavour, and with the broth you make a stew with pasta or rice. Valencian because there are different versions all around Spain, but in Valencia we use a meat (will be soya) dumpling that is like a giant veggie ball, but soft because of the bread in it.

People in the UK always ask what do Spaniards eat for Christmas dinner. The answer is never easy, since there is no turkey-dinner type, and our main event tends to be Christmas Eve dinner. On the 24th, it’s usually a luxury display of tapas and seafood, and more traditionally some meat roast after that. My family agreed a long time ago that we would rather ditch the main that we could never eat and just have a tapas buffet. On Christmas Day, we do lunch and not dinner, because we don’t have such a thing as Boxing Day and some people work on the 26th of December. In other words, Christmas Day is an easy one to see the family and to recover from the food excess and hangover. Traditionally, we would eat the Valencian winter stew (cocido or puchero) on Christmas Day as a lighter meal, but nowadays it is more of an all-year-round meal.

It is not only delicious, but you can keep the veg stock for other recipes, and pick and choose from the veg pile according to taste. Plus, you can make noodles or rice to go with, so more choice to spoil you. I remember when I was little, I used to go into the kitchen when serving to make sure I got potato, a dumpling piece and loads of chickpeas. Are you surprised I have always been a foodie?

PLANT-POWER, MAKE UP!

The bulk of this stew is actually vegetables, so I only had to remove the meat used to make the stock. However, there was one thing I couldn’t do without. We make these minced meat and bread dumplings called pelota (Spanish) or pilota (in Valencian). Literal translation: ball. The closest vegan option for minced meat was textured soya. I cooked it and partially blended it with the bread and it turned out great. The flavours come from the garlic and parsley anyway. I have made this several times and if you cook the dumpling without a bag, it breaks apart. I would recommend to use some cotton, muslin or whatever other food-grade bag to keep it tight when cooking in the stew.


COCIDO (VALENCIAN WINTER STEW)

Serves: 4 people
Prep: 45 minutes
Cook: 50 minutes

INGREDIENTS

Soya and bread dumplings
1 cup textured soya (dry)
1 cup veg stock
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1/2 tsp. paprika
2 tbsp. parsley leaves 
1/2 tbsp. pine nuts
2 wholemeal bread slices + breadcrumbs (if needed)
2 reusable bags (cotton, muslin, etc., but suitable for cooking)

Stew
3 litres veg stock (12 cups) + 1 tbsp. miso paste
1/8 tsp. artificial yellow colouring (optional)
1 bay leave
1 onion, in half
1 turnip, peeled and chopped
2 celery sticks, in big chunks
2 potatoes, peeled
2 carrots, peeled and in chunks
3 leeks, green part removed, chopped
1 ripe tomato
1/2 Savoy cabbage, in quarters
400g drained cooked chickpeas
1/3 cup rice or vermicelli noodles per person


INSTRUCTIONS

  1. To make the dumplings, add 1 cup of stock to the textured soya and let it soak it. Add the garlic, paprika, parsley and pine nuts, and mix well. Remove the edges of the bread slices, shred and add to the bowl. Season with salt and pepper and partially blend with a hand blender until you get a wet dough. Make four big balls (add breadcrumbs only if it feels too sticky in your hands) and put them into a reusable bag (suitable for cooking), tying each of them tight and separately.
  2. Bring the stock with the miso to a boil and add the yellow colouring, bay leave, onion, turnip, celery, potatoes, and carrots. Season with salt and simmer for 15 minutes.
  3. Add the leek and tomato and cook for another 5 minutes. Finally, add the chickpeas, Savoy cabbage, and drop the soya and bread dumplings, leaving the tips of the bag out of the pan, and simmer for another 5 minutes or until all the veg are soft. Adjust seasoning to taste.
  4. Scoop out all the veg from the stock and put in a platter. Remove the dumplings, untie the bags and put them with the other veg. 
  5. If you are going to serve immediately, add 1/3 cup rice or vermicelli noodles per person to the stock, and cook as per cooking instructions. Serve the rice/noodles in deep dishes with the vegetables and dumplings’ platter.
  6. If you are batch cooking, divide up the veg and dumplings in your containers and keep the stock separate. On the day, cook the noodles or rice as per above instructions.

Bon profit!