Sopa de Queso

On Holy Friday, no meat is allowed to be consumed and since Nicaraguans love to eat, they have created a delicious dish called:  Sopa de Queso.

Sopa de Queso (literally translates to Cheese Soup) is a simple yet delicious dish. 

It consists of a broth with fried dumplings,  I am using dumpling on a loose sense for you to get an idea. The fried dumplings, some are shaped like a donuts (rosquillas) or circular shaped.  

Ingredients: 

Rosquillas y tortitas (fried dumplings)	Soup  (broth)
4 cups of tortilla flour (maseca) 2 cups of cheese    (since I'm not in Nicaragua, I use feta) 1 cup of mashed potatoes     (around 4 potatoes) 2 eggs 3 cups of water To your taste: salt, achiote.  Oil (vegetable) to fry the rosquillas.	2 liters of water 3 Vegetables bouillon cube/stock cubes  (cubitos Maggie) 3 eggs, To your taste: Salt, onions, sweet pepper, tomatoes, cilantro or mint (Hierba Buena)  Recado (soup thickener) 1 cup of tortilla flour (maseca) + 1/2 cup of water + achiote.

Preparation: 

Let's do the easiest and delicious thing first. The Rosquillas. 

Mix all the rosquillas (dumplings)  ingredients until you form a malleable dough.  In other words, until you can use the dough and make different shapes with it. 

Take a bit of the dough and start making rosquillas (donuts) shape or dumplings. 

Heat oil in a pan and fry the rosquillas & tortitas. 
Once cooked, set aside.   

Let's do another easy thing:  The Broth or actual soup. 

In a big pot, add water, dissolved the vegetable bouillons cubes, add cilantro, salt and let simmer (boil slowly).

In a shallow pan, sautee, the onions, sweet pepper and tomatoes with a bit of vegetable oil or butter.  Once they are all friends, place them in the pot. Add the recado, then add the fried dumplings, beat the eggs and add to the pot.  

Let it all simmmer and voila, you've made Sopa de Queso, Nicaraguan style. 

Note:  You don't have to add eggs at the end. In my family we do, but I know that some people in Nicaragua don't add eggs to their soup. 

The following video reminds me of my mother land, specially my grandmother. 

God bless the lovely woman making Sopa de Queso typical Nicaraguan style: Link: http://youtu.be/S_gKjiFH2MA