#60 Ecuador
- Jen
- Mar 13, 2023
- 5 min read
Ecuador is Spanish for equator.
A fitting name for one of the world’s 13 countries through which Earth’s central line of latitude passes.
From Pacific coastline to Andean highlands with snow-capped volcanoes and the Amazon basin in the east, Ecuador is one of the most beautiful and environmentally diverse countries in the world.
In 2018 the plan had been to stand in middle of the world in Quito and watch the water go straight down the plughole. Unfortunately, I had underestimated the sheer scale of South America and time ran out. I ended up flying directly from Lima to Bogota, missing out Ecuador entirely.
For me, inspecting the Coriolis Effect and hiking the Avenue of the Volcanoes will have to wait, but la comida de Ecuador does not.
Areas of tropical and temperate climates make for growing of a diverse range of interesting and delicious fruits, such as papaya and guava, and various berries in the highlands. Tomate de arbol (literally means ‘tree tomato’) is a savoury fruit that looks like a tomato and along with chillies forms the base of a hot sauce called aji which is served with most meals.
Some of the country’s top exports are bananas, cocoa and Panama hats, which, despite the confusing name, were actually invented and originally made in Ecuador.
Ecuador’s cuisine is a blend of Andean, Amazonian and Spanish. Ingredients and dishes vary by geographic region and topography. Everyday food reflects what’s available nearby. Coastal areas are rich in seafood, beef cattle graze the lowlands and sheep roam the highlands. Other animals reared for meat are chicken, pigs, goats and guinea pigs, which we associate with Peru but are also a tasty delicacy in Ecuador. Inland catches include river trout and river turtles, which make a tasty stew in Amazonian areas.
Indigenous peoples lived on corn and potatoes, which are still eaten plentifully today, but cheap imports of non-native crops mean that wheat and rice have grown in popularity and now make up the daily staples
Ecuador’s street food scene is vibrant and varied. You can snack on fried crispy beans or grains drizzled in hot sauce, fresh fruit, patacones (fried plantain chips), meat skewers, chicarrones (deep fried pork belly), llapingachos (mashed potato croquettes filled with cheese and served with peanut sauce), the list goes on.
We’re in South America so, of course, there are empanadas. A favourite in Ecuador are empanadas de viento, filled with cheese, deep-fried and sprinkled with sugar.
For something sweet, espumillias are raw meringues mixed with guava and served in ice cream cones. I’ve read that a lot of people get food poisoning after eating these raw egg whites!
Beach food is all coconuts and ceviche. Ceviche in neighbouring Peru, where the dish qualifies for national dish status, is raw fish ‘cooked’ by the acid in lemon or lime juice, but in Ecuador, the fish is cooked first before marinating it in lime juice.
The main meal of the day, as is the custom in South America, is eaten in the middle of the day, and almost always starts with a bowl of soup served with avocado and aji.
Soups are hearty and can include all sorts of ingredients from plantains to peanuts, quinoa to corn, and even meat-filled dumplings. Meaty soup is more common in Andean highland areas and seafood soups, such as the well-known encebollado, are eaten on the coast. The soup is named encebollado which means something like ‘onioned’ in Spanish, because it is served with pickled red onions and a tomato and onion salsa. It’s made with fresh tuna, spices and coriander, and is considered to be an excellent hangover cure.
Fanesca falls into the category of soup, but fanesca is no ordinary soup. The roots of this dish are indigenous and it was eaten around the equinox in pre-Columbian times. However, colonialism brings with it cultural assimilation and the Catholic Spaniards took this dish and applied their own symbolism to turn it into an Easter dish. It contains 12 different types of beans and grains which represent the 12 apostles, and salt cod which represents Jesus Christ. It also includes squash, peanuts and milk…and then must be topped with hardboiled egg, fried plantain, slices of cheese, pickled onions, aji, avocado…and mini empanadas!
Main courses are often rice dishes, fish in coastal areas, or rich meat stews known as secos, which are always served with rice, fried plantain and avocado. Secos can be made with beef, chicken or goat but whatever the protein, the common theme is that the meat is marinated in something acidic to tenderise it before being cooked slowly.
Seco de chivo
Seco de chivo is goat stew. Traditionally, the goat is marinated in a fermented corn drink called chicha but beer is now more common (and easier to get hold of in Cardiff). Tomatoes and citrussy fruit juice are also added to the marinade. In Ecuador this is usually naranjilla, but orange juice is a good substitute. The sauce is also flavoured with garlic, onion, coriander, spices including achiote, which is a bit like paprika, and unrefined cane sugar which comes in hard blocks and is known as panela in Ecuador.
I thought my local halal shop would be fair game for some goat but alas, I ended up with mixed mutton pieces instead. OK, so this is really a seco de cordero. However, I did pick up some Indian unrefined cane sugar in there, which definitely has a more interesting taste than any of the bags of sugar in my cupboard.
I followed this recipe for seco de chivo. Gracias Laylita!
After marinating the meat in beer, garlic, oregano and cumin, I browned it nicely and then used the same pan to sauté onion and red pepper and added the spices to this pan. The sauce was made up of blended tomatoes, coriander, beer, orange juice and chilli, and this went into the pan along with the browned meat and some grated cane sugar and I left it for a good three hours to do its thing.
* Top tip: don’t put gassy beer in your blender…
The whole process was an absolute joy. My kitchen was filled with a warming gamey aroma and that pleasing sound of gentle simmering. The sauce quite suddenly thickened and deepened in colour, gaining a delightful sheen, and the meat needed no encouragement to separate from the bone. It was time!
I served my seco with the appropriate accompaniments of rice, avocado, tomato & fried plantain. I bought a bag of plantain chips (produced in Colombia) rather than handling a fresh plantain myself, what with my phobia of bananas!
Seco de chivo/cordero is outstanding! It’s gently spiced and sweetened, with a hint of a tang to keep your palette on its toes and to nicely balance the rich, bold flavours of the mutton. The depth of flavour is something that only meat can achieve, and mutton brought so much more to the table than say beef would. I’m genuinely sad for vegetarians. The fluffy rice and crispy plantain chips were perfectly matched with the thick, rich sauce and beautifully tender meat.
Of all the slow-cooked meat stews I’ve made for this blog, this is up there at the top with the beef rendang from Indonesia.
I am SO happy I got to taste that.
I’ll ride that high all the way to…AFGHANISTAN.
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