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Soup Joumou

Name: Soup Joumou
Total time: 120 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Haiti
Ingredients: 1/4 (400g) Pumpkin; 300g Beef Shank; 2 Potato; 1 Carrot; 1/8 Cabbage; 1 Onion; 60g Macaroni; 2 cloves Garlic; 2 sprigs Thyme; 2 tbsp Lime juice; 1 Chili pepper; 2 tsp Salt; A pinch Black Pepper; 1.5L Water

Soup

⏱ 120 min

👥 Serves 6

Difficulty ⭐⭐

Pumpkin, beef, vegetables, and pasta simmered together — the soup Haitians drink on New Year's Day, Independence Day.

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📖 The Story Behind This Dish

Soup joumou is a pumpkin soup symbolizing Haitian independence; under French colonial rule, enslaved people weren't allowed to drink it. Since independence on January 1, 1804, there has been a custom of drinking it every New Year's Day to celebrate freedom, and it was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2021. Beef, vegetables, and pasta go into a pumpkin purée.

🌆 Where it's eaten: On New Year's morning in a Haitian home, orange pumpkin soup from a big pot is ladled into bowls and shared with family and neighbors to celebrate independence.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 6)

Pumpkin 1/4 (400g)
Beef Shank 300g
Potato 2
Carrot 1
Cabbage 1/8
Onion 1
Macaroni 60g
Garlic 2 cloves
Thyme 2 sprigs
Lime juice 2 tbsp
Chili pepper 1
Salt 2 tsp
Black Pepper A pinch
Water 1.5L

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Cut the beef into bite-size pieces, rub with lime juice, garlic, and salt, then simmer with water for 1 hour.
Boil and mash the pumpkin and purée with its cooking water.
Add the pumpkin purée, diced potatoes, carrots, and onion, thyme, and a whole chili to the beef pot and simmer 20 minutes.
Add the chopped cabbage and macaroni and simmer 10 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.

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