Thanksgiving

Turkey Extraterrestre

Since we had to work on Thursday (kind of) and Friday, the gringos from Colegio Americano had an international Thanksgiving feast on Friday evening. Tom from England baked Yorkshire pudding, Willa from Holland brought Cabbage salad, Margaux brought hard boiled quail eggs, and the rest of us tried to make our favorite family recipes using Ecuadoran ingredients.

I'm thankful for all the wonderful friends I have made in Ecuador!

Margaux's Deviled Eggs and Hard Boiled Quail Eggs

Mike and I made pumpkin pie. Not so simple to do in Ecuador! Canned pumpkin is not available here. After asking around, we were told that we could find pieces of zapallo in the Mi Comiseriato grocery store. Zapallo is a large green pumpkin, which they sell in chunks. I cooked the pumpkin in the microwave, and Mike processed it in the blender…we don’t have a food processor. We couldn’t find any ground cloves, so Mike also ground the cloves in the blender and then we had to sift out the bigger pieces. They sell milk in boxes here – not very good – so we used powdered milk. The flour is different here and I was warned not to try to make pie crust from it, plus I don’t have a rolling pin, so I made a pie crust out of zoologia cookies (that’s what they call animal crackers).  I always laugh when I see the name, but I guess zoo cookies is no worse than animal crackers.

The pies didn’t look very pretty, but they tasted good. Everyone always likes the Berglund (Mom’s) pumpkin pie recipe.



A Chunk of Zapallo



Pumpkin Custard Pie



16 oz (1 ½ cups) pumpkin

¾ cup sugar

1-1   ¼ tsp cinnamon (adjust spices to taste)

¼– ½ tsp cloves

¼– ½ tsp nutmeg

½ - 1 tsp ginger

½ tsp salt

6 oz (¾ cup) evaporated milk

1 ¼ cups milk

3 eggs, slightly beaten

Mix ingredients in a bowl, pour into a 9-inch unbaked pie crust.

Bake at 450ᵒF (232ᵒ c)for 10 minutes, and then reduce heat to 325ᵒF (163ᵒ c)and bake for 45 minutes.

How do you like your pork?

Hornado de Chancho in Cuenca, Ecuador

Ecuadorans are proud of their “comidas typicas” (typical foods) which vary by region – coast, highlands, and the Amazon. The favored regional pork dishes are examples of comidas typicas. On the coast and in the highlands, the pork dish is called Hornado de Chancho. The coastal version of Hornado de Chancho is a pork leg that is cooked in the oven.

In Cuenca, which is in the highlands, the Hornado de Chancho is the entire pig cooked whole. The crisp outer skin - I think they call it “cascaritas” - is a delicacy; a blow-torch cooking apparatus is used to crisp the skin and layers of meat. In the market, the vendors use their hands to pull the meat from the whole pig.

In other areas of the highlands, the regional pork dish is called “Fritada.” The Fritada is cooked in a large pan over an open fire. They start out boiling the pork and pork fat in water, but eventually the water evaporates and the pork is fried in its own fat with salt, white onions, and garlic.

The beginnings of a Fritada meal.
Pork and pork fat in boiling water.




We enjoyed this meal of fritada with friends in Pallatanga.

 

A plate of fritada, platano, choclo, potatoes with onion sauce, and habas.

The fritada is traditionally served with a large white corn called choclo, potatoes with an onion sauce that is made with bread, milk, butter and salt, and cooked habas (I think this is a type of fava bean).  Mike and I had a wonderful fritada meal with friends in Pallatanga. I’m not sure where the pork came from, but we watched Marietta, the cook, prepare the meal from start to finish, and we decided that the pork was fried enough that it would be safe to eat. The meal was delicious!

Fritada in Mindo, Ecuador

These fritada stands are typical of eateries that you see on the sides of roads throughout ecuador. Some of the stands may have a plastic table or two for customers to sit and enjoy their meal.



This fritada stand is somewhere on the road between Mindo and Guayaquil.
Sometimes the stands will hang the whole pig.