What's Cooking Panama! Part 3
a few interesting recipes from Panama
By Sherry Boyd

This month we are going to share about a typical meal you’ll find just about everywhere you go in Panama. It’s called sancocho—a cross between soup and stew. The name is based upon the Spanish verb sancochar, which means to parboil. Many Latin American countries have their own version of sancocho. But to the Panamanian, sancocho is only made with a stewing hen—a fryer just won’t do. And there is only one root vegetable they include…its called ñame. The ñame is a tuber with brown skin that looks much like a russet potato. It is similar in texture when cooked but grows much larger. On special occasions, a two-inch length of corn on the cob is also added.

Give a Panamanian a bowl of sancocho and a mound of white rice and he’ll be happy. As the weather cools down soon in your part of the world you might want to try out sancocho, click here to go to the recipe. It’s quite tasty! But remember one thing…it never cools down in Panama!