Hispanic Heritage · Paraguay

El Interior y el Chaco

Encarnación · Coronel Bogado · Hohenau · Obligado · Bella Vista · San Ignacio

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Soyo

Descubre

Paraguay’s soyo is a beef soup with an unusually fine texture. Grinding or pounding the meat changes how it combines with broth, onion, and seasoning, turning a simple ingredient list into a distinctive bowl.

La Gente

Follow the mixing instructions before heating so the meat disperses rather than forming large clumps. Stir as directed and cook gently. Serve with a corn-based accompaniment to explore two textures from the same regional table.

Sabor

The interior cooks with beef fat, onion, and the green herbs of the countryside, with garlic, oregano, and cumin doing the work in the pot and a little color from urucú. Salt and the pounding of the meat give the body. Heat is a locote, the sweet-hot pepper, and not much of it.

Spice DNA · Herb medium · Smoke low · Sweet low · Heat low · Acid low

Seasonings to explore

Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the sofrito. Adds a savory garlic base.
Oregano, whole. In the soyo.
Cumin, ground. In the soyo. Lightly.
Black Pepper, ground. In the soyo.
Sazón with Coriander and Annatto. For the urucú color.
Onion Powder. With the fresh onion.
Bay leaves, whole. One in the pot.
Parsley flakes. For the finish when there is no fresh.

From your market: lean ground beef (ask for it ground twice, or run it through the processor), beef fat or oil, onion, a green pepper or locote, tomatoes, rice, parsley, and corn flour and cheese if you are making a tortilla or chipa guazú to go with it. Badia does not sell the japepó, the clay pot. The interior would say it changes the taste. The interior is probably right.

Cocina

Soyo

Beef pounded into a soup, with rice and a sofrito. Twenty minutes. The pot that saves the day in Paraguay.

Serves 6

1½ lb lean ground beef, ground fine
8 cups cold water
3 tbsp beef fat or oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper or locote, finely chopped
2 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil, or 5 garlic cloves minced
½ tsp Badia Onion Powder
3 tomatoes, finely chopped, or 1 cup crushed
1 tsp Badia Oregano, whole
½ tsp Badia Cumin, ground
½ tsp Badia Black Pepper, ground
1 tsp Badia Sazón with Coriander and Annatto
1 Badia Bay Leaf, whole
½ cup rice
Salt
3 tbsp parsley, chopped, or 1 tbsp Badia Parsley flakes

The cold-water rule. Put the ground beef in a pot with the cold water and break it up with your hands until there are no lumps and the water is cloudy. Set it aside. Do not heat it yet.
The sofrito. Warm the fat in a pan. Cook the onion and pepper with the garlic and onion powder until soft. Add the tomatoes, oregano, cumin, pepper, and sazón and cook 5 minutes until thick and orange.
Bring it up. Add the sofrito and the bay leaf to the pot of beef and cold water. Put it over medium heat and stir, without stopping, until it comes to a boil. The broth will thicken and turn velvety as the meat cooks. This takes about 10 minutes and it does not work if you walk away.
The rice. Add the rice and salt. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the rice is tender and the soup is thick.
Finish. Remove the bay leaf. Parsley over the top. Taste for salt once more.
Serve in deep bowls with tortilla paraguaya or chipa guazú beside it to soak up the broth, and tereré after. Or before. Paraguay is flexible about the tereré.

Pueblos del Interior y el Chaco

Encarnación · Coronel Bogado · Hohenau · Obligado · Bella Vista · San Ignacio · Pilar · Ciudad del Este · Hernandarias · Presidente Franco · Caaguazú · San Pedro · Concepción · Pedro Juan Caballero · Filadelfia · Loma Plata · Neuland · Mariscal Estigarribia · Villa Hayes