How To Make Venezuela Chicken Soup (Sancocho de Gallina) Recipe

Ingredients:

• chicken stock (1 and 1/2 qts.)
• 1 yucca, peeled and cut into 1"x1"x1" pieces.
• 2 plaintains, peeled, halved, and sliced into thirds longitudinally.
• 2 red potatoes, peeling optional, cut into chunks.
• 3 whole chicken breast, skinned and quartered with bones left on.
• juice from two lemons
• cumin, 1 tsp
• scallions, 1 bunch
• cilantro, 1 bunch
• roux (2 T all-purpose flour and 2 T buter, mixed and microwaved for 30 seconds into a yellowish sludge)
• salt and pepper.

Instructions:

1. In one cup of chicken stock, simmer scallions, cilantro, and cumin for a few minutes. 
2. Set it aside till cool, then process it into a smooth, green-colored flavoring element to be added to the final soup. 
3. In the remaining 1 and 1/4 quarts of chicken stock, simmer the quartered, skinned chicken breasts. 
4. Particulate scum which floats off the chicken breasts as they start to cook may be skimmed off with a ladle, and discarded. 
5. The chicken will take about an hour to cook. 
6. As the chicken starts to simmer, add cut-up, peeled yucca, and cut-up potatoes. 
7. You may continue to skim off scum after the yucca and potatoes are in the soup. 
8. About a half hour from completion time, add cut-up plaintains. 
9. Plaintains are more delicate, and require less cooking time that other elements of the soup. 
10. 10 minutes before completion time, add the processed scallions-cilantro-cumin, and the juice from 2 lemons. Add roux to "bind" the soup, stirring to mix it well. 
11. Make sure the potatoes and yucca are cooked to softness, and examine a piece of chicken to check for doneness. 
12. If overcooked, the yucca, potato, and plaintain disintegrate, but their rich flavors remain. Add salt and pepper to taste.