🇵🇾 Paraguay
So'o yosopyParaguayan pounded beef soup
A Paraguayan soup of beef pounded or ground fine (traditionally in a wooden mortar, the angu'a) and cooked with vegetables and spices into a thick broth, served with Paraguayan tortillas or chipa guasu.
Origin and history
The name is a short form of the Guarani so'o josopy, so'o meaning meat and josopy pounded, and it is usually shortened to soyo. A Paraguayan rural-life outlet says it was once thought of as food of the poor and is now eaten in every social class. The Paraguayan Senate's Declaration No. 294, of 17 June 2025, recognised so'o josopy as a national dish, according to the Asuncion Times.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Total time
- 50 min
- Hands-on
- 35 min
Ingredients
- 250 g9 oz very lean beef, ground fine or pounded in a mortar (so'o), ground fine, or pounded in a mortar for a more traditional texture
- 1.5 liters1.5 quarts cold water
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1/4 cup1/4 cup (about 50 g) rice
- dried oregano, to taste
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 50 g2 oz (1 small) carrot, grated
- 60 g2 oz zapallo (squash or pumpkin), grated
- 100 g1 medium tomato, chopped
- 3 tbsp chopped parsley
- salt and pepper; chopped scallion, to taste / to finish
Method
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1. In a bowl, work the ground beef with the cold water, flour, rice and oregano until the meat is loose in the liquid with no lumps.
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2. Heat the oil in a pot and cook the onion until soft.
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3. Add the garlic, carrot and zapallo, then the tomato, and cook down to a thick sauce.
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4. Pour in the contents of the bowl and stir constantly, without letting it come to a hard boil.
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5. Season with salt and pepper and keep stirring over low heat until the broth thickens and the rice is tender, about 25 minutes.
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6. Stir in the parsley, scatter scallion on top and serve hot with Paraguayan tortillas or chipa guasu.
Notes
- Quantities follow a recipe published by the Paraguayan site Cocinarica (it gives no number of servings; four is our estimate for the amounts). The recipe mixes the raw ground beef into the cold water with flour and rice before it goes in the pot, and says the pot must not come to a boil.
- Traditionally the meat is pounded in a wooden mortar (the angu'a) rather than ground; some versions use so'o piru, sun-dried beef. Rice is in the Cocinarica and La Nacion versions, but not every description mentions it.
- Cocinarica serves it with Paraguayan tortillas (a fried batter, not the flat bread): mix 2 eggs, 100 ml milk, 100 g crumbled queso Paraguay, salt and pepper, work in 150 g flour, and drop spoonfuls into hot oil. Bichos de Campo also names chipa guasu as an accompaniment.
- Not to be confused with sopa paraguaya, which is a baked cornbread despite its name.
Adapted from Cocinarica (Paraguay), Soyo con tortillas and La Nacion (Paraguay), Sabores autenticos: las 7 mejores comidas tipicas de Paraguay.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.