Caldo verde (Green Soup) / Portugal

What kind of dish is this?

This is a Portuguese green soup that is comforting to eat.
It is made with potatoes, collard greens, olive oil, garlic, and salt.

It is a typical Portuguese dish, a soup that can be served as an appetizer or a side dish.
It is also known as “New Year’s Eve soup”, which is eaten on New Year’s Eve.

Name

・Caldo＝broth
・Verde＝green

History

This soup was born in Minho, in the north of Portugal, where potatoes were cultivated early in the country.
It was created by farmers as a dish to warm up visitors on cold days.
Potatoes were being grown in Minho and other places as early as 1760, so it is likely that the dish existed as early as that time.

In the 19th century, as the population increased, potatoes became popular, especially among farmers.
As a way to eat potatoes, this soup must have spread along with them.
Today, this soup is widespread throughout Portugal and is served not only in homes but also in fancy restaurants.
It is also popular in countries and regions where there are many Portuguese immigrants, such as Brazil, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

Thoughts

For some reason, I felt relieved the moment I took a bite of this.
I can’t really describe it, but…
I ate it in the morning and felt relieved, then I ate it again at night and felt relieved.
The next morning, I ate it again and felt relieved, and that night I ate it again and felt relieved.
I don’t know if it’s the concentration of the potatoes that makes it so… I don’t know why, but I feel relieved anyway.

This soup is delicious freshly made, the next day, or even when cold.
Plus…it’s comforting for some reason.
It is easy to make and I recommend it to many people.

Recipe of Caldo verde

Local recipe with some adjustments of mine.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 40 mins

Total Time 50 mins

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Soup / Stew

Cuisine Portuguese

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

No.1

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 10 g garlic slices

No.2,3

• 4 potatoes diced
• 1 chorizo
• 1000 ml water depending on the size of the pot and your preferred concentration
• 1 tsp salt

No.4

• 300 g kale / Locally, collard greens (couve galega) are used. finely chopped / Locally, it is shredded.

No.5

• 2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

 

• Saute onions and garlic in olive oil.
• Add potatoes, water, salt, and chorizo.

  Bring to a boil and cover with a lid.

  Cook over low heat for 20 minutes.
• Remove the chorizo.

  Mash the potatoes to the preferred concentration.
• Add the kale.

  Add the sliced chorizo.

  Cover with a lid and cook over low heat for 10 minutes.
• Add olive oil and mix.

  Finish

Video

Notes

※There are many variations, including recipes where everything is cooked from the beginning or where chorizo is added at the end.

※Locally, it is made with shredded collard greens (couve galega). However, it is hard to find in my country, so I used kale.

※There are many different sausages in Portugal. Linguica, for example, is often used in this dish.

※In all the recipes I refer to, they used a blender to mash potatoes and other ingredients, but my blender is out of order. That’s why I mashed it.

Keyword olive oil, vegetables