Ecuadorian cuisine
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Ecuadorian cuisine is diverse, varying with altitude, and associated agricultural conditions. Pork, chicken, beef, and cuy (guinea pig) are popular in the mountainous regions, and are served with a variety of carbohydrate-rich foods, especially rice, corn, and potatoes. A popular street food in mountainous regions is hornado, consisting of potatoes served with roasted pig. Some examples of Ecuadorian cuisine in general include patacones (unripe plantains fried in oil, mashed up, and then refried), llapingachos (a pan-seared potato ball), and seco de chivo (a type of stew made from goat). A wide variety of fresh fruit is available, particularly at lower altitudes, including granadilla, passionfruit, naranjilla, several types of banana, uvilla, taxo, and tree tomato.
The food is somewhat different in the southern mountainous areas, featuring typical Loja food such as repe, a soup prepared with green bananas; cecina, roasted pork; and miel con quesillo, or "cuajada", as dessert. In the rainforest, a dietary staple is the yuca, elsewhere called cassava. The starchy root is peeled and boiled, fried, or used in a variety of other dishes. It's also used as a bread, and has spread throughout the nation, most notably to Quito, where a company sells the native pan de yuca in a new sense: different types sold with frozen yogurt. Many fruits are available in this region, including bananas, tree-grapes, and peach-palms.
Typical meal
Ecuadorian cuisine traditionally consists of two dishes, a soup and a rice platter. For the most part, Ecuador is known not only for its bananas, and all the dishes made from them, but for its starch consumption of products like potato, bread, rice, and yuca. Traditionally any of these ingredients can be found in either the soup or the rice platter that may be served. Most regions in Ecuador follow the traditional three-course meal of sopa (soup) and segundo (second dish), which includes rice and a protein such as beef, poultry, pork, or fish. Then dessert and coffee are customary. Dinner is usually lighter and sometimes just coffee or agua de remedio (herbal tea, lit. "remedy water") with bread. Tortillas are also eaten in other regions.
Beverages
Aguardiente, a sugar cane-based spirit, is probably the most popular national alcohol. Canelazo is a popular drink made from aguardiente. Drinkable yogurt, available in many fruit flavors, is popular and is often consumed with pan de yuca (a light bread filled with cheese and eaten warm). One traditional non-alcoholic beverage is pinol, made using machica (toasted barley flour), panela (unrefined sugar), and spices.[1] Another traditional non-alcoholic beverage is colada morada, which is made with black corn flour, sweetened with panela, and flavored with fresh fruit, herbs and spices.
Catholic influence
Besides the regions, there are several typical Ecuadorian dishes consumed on special occasions. Fanesca, a fish soup including several types of beans, lentils, and corn, is often eaten during Lent and Easter, and is traditionally served all over Ecuador. During the week before the commemoration of the deceased or All Souls' Day, the fruit beverage colada morada is typical, accompanied by t'anta wawa which is stuffed bread shaped like children.
See also
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. ["Another traditional product tasted was pinol, made with máchica, panela, cinnamon and cloves, among other local ingredients."]
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