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Cocido quemado
Kosído: yerba mate and sugar burned to caramel, then boiled with water into a smoky, amber Paraguayan breakfast drink
Cocido is how Paraguay starts the day: in Asunción, in the villages of Guairá and Itapúa, and in school kitchens, a pot of burnt yerba is brewed and poured into cups with chipa, the cheesy cassava bread, or with a hard galleta. The old way is to drop a glowing piece of charcoal into a pot with yerba and sugar and stir until the sugar burns. On a home stove you caramelise them together in a dry pan instead, which is safer and gives the same smoky, toffee-like taste. The drink is clear amber-brown, with roasted, slightly bitter mate notes over burnt-sugar sweetness; with milk added it becomes cocido con leche, creamy and coffee-coloured. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so treat it like a cup of coffee. The common mistake is letting the sugar go black: it turns acrid and bitter. Pull it off the heat when the caramel is deep amber and the yerba smells toasted, not burnt. It is ready when the liquid is a clear dark amber and tastes of toffee and smoke. Chef's tip: the water will spit fiercely when it hits the hot caramel, so pour it in from the side, at arm's length.
- Total time
- 14 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the cocido
- ⅞ oz yerba mateabout 4 heaped tbsp
- 2 ⅛ oz sugar
- 4 ¼ cups water
- 1 cinnamon stick (optional)for serving, optional
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Heat a heavy, dry saucepan over a medium heat. Add the 2 ⅛ oz sugar and ⅞ oz yerba mate together.
1 minStep 2: Stir constantly with a wooden spoon as the sugar melts and bubbles round the yerba. Keep going until the caramel is deep amber and smells of toffee and toasted leaves; take it off the heat before it smokes heavily or turns black.
4 minStep 3: Off the heat, carefully pour in the 4 ¼ cups water from the side of the pan at arm's length; it will hiss and the caramel will seize.
1 minStep 4: Return to the heat and boil gently, stirring, until the caramel has dissolved and the liquid is a clear dark amber.
5 minStep 5: Strain through a fine sieve or cloth into cups. Serve as it is, with a 1 cinnamon stick stick to stir, or top each cup with hot milk for cocido con leche (then it is no longer vegan).
1 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 60 kcal
- Protein
- 0 g
- Carbs
- 15 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does cocido quemado take?
- About 14 minutes in total: 2 minutes to prepare and 12 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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