Bolivian Picana is a traditional Christmas Eve soup, it is served for Nochebuena dinner. This soup is rich with vegetables, chicken, beef, beer, wine and seasonings and cooked slowly over several hours.
Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine Bolivian, Gastronomia Latina, Latin American
tunta (if you can find it)calculate 1 small chunk per serving
0.5tbspwhite pepper
1red bell pepper
Instructions
Cut beef in chunks and saute in 1 tbsp of olive in instant pot.
Once sauteed, add 3 cups of water, close the lid, pressurize and cook for 30 minutes in the meat setting.
Then add chicken to a medium size pot, cover in water and set to boil, Once the water boils, then lower heat to medium and cover the pot.
In the meantime as beef and chicken cook, peel the onion, turnip and chop the vegetables. I like to dice onion, turnip, jalapeno, tomato and julienne the red bell pepper.
Get a big soup pot where you'll finish making the soup. Saute in 2 tbsps of olive oil the onion until translucent. Then add carrots, celery, red bell peppers, parsley, turnip and green peas. Saute all together. Add the diced tomato at the end of the sauteing process.
Once beef is done cooking for 30 minutes, let the IP depressurize with the natural release option. Get the beef and transfer it to the soup pot. Then drain the stock in a mesh, and pour the stock in the soup pot too. Keep heat in medium setting in the stovetop.
Handle the chicken carefully because it will still be hot. Cut in pieces and transfer to soup pot too. Add enough chicken stock to fill up the soup pot (few inches from the rim). Let cook in medium heat for almost 1 hour.
Boil potatoes, corn and tunta separately. You can add the sugar and some salt to the corn pot.
Add salt, oregano, bay leaves and white pepper to soup. Stir everything.
Finally add beer and wine to the soup. Let it cook for another half an hour. Then low the heat to the lowest setting.
When serving, add corn, potatoes and tunta to the plate. Then use a ladle to pour soup over them. Also, make sure to add a piece or meat and a piece of chicken to the plate as well. Garnish with parsley and serve hot. Enjoy and Merry Christms /Feliz Navidad:)
Video
Notes
Please note that I add more red bell pepper and parsley than what is traditional. Same might be true for celery and carrots, I love lots of vegetables in my stew.
Instead of a whole chicken, you can use several pieces of chicken, 3-4 lbs. It makes the process a little easier.
Some people might cook this soup with up to 4 different types of meat, including lamb and pork too. The more options, the richer the stew. But a simpler version with just beef and chicken works great too:).