Chile Stew - Cochayuyo and Araucaria pinenuts

We have previously posted recipes here but none of them has been of "typical" Chilean food. This one probably is not going to be a "typical" dish either but it is one that we have created and which uses very typical local ingredients. We call it "The Chile Stew".

We like cooking and eating. In general we were a little disappointed by the food in Chile. We expected more flavour and variety than what one finds in most local restaurants. But we soon overcame this and realised that the problem certainly is not the availability of ingredients but a different gastronomic culture (Chile cuisine is not very adventurous in contrast to other Latin American countries such as Peru).

We will be using 2 very typical ingredients: Cochayuyo (or bull kelp) seaweed and Araucaria pinenuts. These can be found in most Chilean supermarkets. No doubt similar seaweeds and other pinenuts can be used if you live elsewhere ;o)

Step 1: The Cochayuyo available in Chile is sun dried so before cooking it, it is necessary to soak it for a while (24 hours is good). We do this in a pot and put a plate on top as it tends to float otherwise!

This is the amount we use for 4 meals

Put the Cochayuyo in a pot, place a plate on top and soak for 24h

Step 2: After 24h, discard the water. Put the Cochayuyo in a pot with fresh water. Add the pinenuts and boil for 60mins.

 Araucaria pinenuts: this is the amount we use for 4 meals. They are like huge pine nuts.

Put the pinenuts and soaked Cochayuyo in a pot and boil for 60mins

 Step 3: discard the water and peel the pinenuts:

The pine nut's red skin needs to be removed...

...which is most easily accomplished with a pointy knife...

...and then they look like this.

Step 4: get creative... what would you like in your stew? mushrooms? aubergine? courgettes? pumpkin? pepper? carrot? potatoes? onions? 

Make a decision and chop it all up (including the cochayuyo and even the pinenuts if you want (we leave them whole though)

Step 5: fry some onion, garlic and chilli pepper with olive oil. When the onion is soft, add the other ingredients.

Step 6: add some spices to the mix. We used "Canelo" pepper, Merken and some paprika (to keep it chilean!). If you don't have these ingredients available, normal black pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika will also do the trick!

Step 7: top it all up with water and cook at medium fire for 40mins (approx)

Step 8: 3 mins before turning off the fire, add some greens and enjoy your Chile stew!