Locro

Ingredients

• 2 brown onions, sliced
• 2 chorizo sausages, diced
• salt to taste
• ½ tbsp ground cumin
• 2 racks of pork ribs
• 160g (5.6 oz) white beans (dry weight, soaked overnight in water)
• 2L (4.2 pints) chicken stock
• 2 red capsicums (bell peppers), diced
• ¼ large pumpkin/winter squash (I used a Japanese pumpkin also known as a Kabocha), peeled and diced
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp paprika
• olive oil

Directions

1. Place a large Dutch oven with a lid over medium-high heat. Add a good drizzle of olive oil, then the sliced onions, a big pinch of salt, and the diced chorizo. Stir and cook until the onions start to have some colour.
2. Next, add the ground cumin, stir, and continue to cook for 2-3 more minutes. Then add the pork ribs, stir before adding the white beans along with the chicken stock. Give it one final stir, and once it's simmering, turn to low heat and simmer for 1 hour until the pork is tender enough to come off the bone.
3. Once the meat is pulling back from the bones of the pork ribs, remove them from the pot and add the pumpkin and capsicum. Remove the meat from the pork bones and dice into roughly 2cm (¾ inch) cubes. Add the diced pork meat back to the pot.
4. Continue to simmer the locro for another 45 minutes to an hour, or until the pumpkin has fully cooked and is starting to break down and purée into the soup.
5. Once you're ready to serve, add the sliced spring onions, chilli flakes, and paprika with a good drizzle of olive oil to a pan and bring to a light simmer.
6. To serve, ladle some of the locro into a bowl and drizzle over some of the spicy spring onion oil for garnish. Enjoy!