One of our favorite soups here in Bolivia is sopa de maní (peanut soup). In an effort to promote their new stove design, CECAM held a demonstration fair to show people how their cooker works by preparing 30 liters of this delicious soup. The new stove uses wood as fuel but hardly produces any harmful smoke due to the efficiency of the combustion. While cooking, most of the pot sits inside the stove itself, rather than sitting on top of a burner like a traditional gas or electric stove. The appliance has the ability to boil one liter of water in one minute, as opposed to six minutes using gas for fuel.
A useful design in many parts of the world where wood is plentiful and other fuels are hard to come by, CECAM intends to distribute a large version of their prototype in La Paz, where hundreds of families are suffering from the devastation due to landslides caused by heavy rain in the area. The ability to boil water is imperative in La Paz right now, as the affected families have no access to purified drinking water. Additionally, they will be able to cook for many people at a time and heat up water with which to bathe. One of our volunteers, Jakob, brought the stove over to our main house to demonstrate how it works, and several Sustainable Bolivia volunteers donated money to help build the stove and transport it to La Paz, where it is desperately needed.
If you want to make sopa de maní on your own stove, here is a recipe (in Spanish):
INGREDIENTES:
1/2 pollo cortado en pedazos pequeños
1/4 de maní pelado y molido
1 cebolla mediana y pelada
1 apio cortado
3 zanahorias medianas peladas y cortadas
2 papas grandes cortadas en 4
1/2 cucharadita de azafrán
1 cucharadita de orégano o perejil picado
*Se puede añadir leche al gusto
PREPARACIÓN:
En una cacerola colocar todos los ingrediente menos el maní y la papa, hervir a juego medio por unos 45 minutos luego agregar el maní y cocinar a juego lento por una media hora, luego agregar las papas peladas y cortadas en 4 y dejar cocinar hasta que las papas estén bien hechas, apagar el fuego y echar el orégano o perejil picadito. Servir la sopa con papas fritas encima.
