Tag: Ecuadorian
Sopa de Zapallo (Pumpkin Soup)
Sopa de Zapallo (Pumpkin Soup)
Most people think of something sweet when they think of pumpkin flavored anything. This is the exact opposite. This soup is as savory as it gets and is high end restaurant quality in flavor; I kid you not. When making this soup, I was a little underwhelmed…until I tasted it. I know something is really, really good when I say “Holy Shit” out loud. The tomatoes help balance out the pumpkin, so it’s not so dominant. What it really tastes like is a cross between tomato soup and butternut squash soup. You can garnish it with green onions and crumbled queso, unless you want to keep it vegan. Either way, if you want to impress some people, serve them this as the soup course.
Equipment
- immersion blender
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 white onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 4 roma tomatoes chopped
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- 1 small pumpkin seeded, peeled, and cubed
- salt and pepper to taste
Garnish
- green onions finely chopped
- queso fresco crumbled; omit if you want the soup vegan
Instructions
- Heat up the olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Sauté the onions, garlic, tomatoes, cumin seeds and ground, for 5 minutes.
- Pour in the veggie stock. Add in the pumpkin. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.
- Using an immersion blender, purée the soup until smooth.
- Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for a couple more minutes until it is your desired consistency.
Cassava Cheese Bread
Cassava Cheese Bread
Have you ever been to Fogo de Chao and eaten the never ending basket of cheese bread they bring out to you? They have kind of a gummy texture in the bestest way possible. Well after making this cassava cheese bread recipe, I figured out what Fogo’s is made out of. They are made out of tapioca flour, aka yucca flour/cassava flour. You can purchase tapioca flour at just about every grocery store. There happens to be many variations of these cheese bread rolls throughout South American countries. This particular recipe is Ecuadorian.These rolls are extremely simple to make. Mix all of the ingredients together. Portion put into a muffin pan. If you don’t have a muffin pan, you can space out dough balls on a baking sheet lined in parchment paper. They need to bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then get broiled for up to 5 minutes until the tops are browned and slightly crispy.
Equipment
- muffin pan
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups tapioca flour
- 2 cups mozzarella grated
- 2 cups queso fresco grated
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 stick butter melted
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 1/2 cup milk plus more
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Mix together all of the ingredients until a dough forms. Add more milk a tbsp st a time if the dough is too dry. You want it to be elastic in texture.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a muffin pan with nonstick spray. Portion out the rough into the pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Turn on your broiler. Broil the cheese bread for up to 5 minutes until the rolls are browned on top.
Octopus Ceviche
Octopus Ceviche
Recipe #666, on Halloween 2020. Wanna venture out to another type of ceviche that’s not fish or shrimp? Ceviche de pulpo, aka octopus, is the way to go. You can purchase all ready cooked octopus, or buy a whole raw one and cook it yourself like I did. The octopus takes about 2 minutes to cook in a pot of boiling water. Scoop the octopus out and place in ice water to stop the cooking process. It’s really that simple.At this point, cut the octopus into thin bite sized pieces. Mix with hot peppers, some red onions, and lime juice. Let that marinate for 2 hours. Marinate the remaining half of the red onions with salt and lime juice. Once the marinating process is over, mix the ceviche together with the lime-pickled red onions, cilantro, and olive oil. Serve the ceviche with plantain chips.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 12 oz octopus
- 1/2 medium red onion thinly sliced on a mandolin
- 1 serrano pepper thinly sliced on a mandolin
- 5 limes juiced
- 3 tbsp cilantro chopped
- 1 tsp olive oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Rub your octopus with salt. Wash and rinse the octopus in cold water.
- Bring a pot of water to a hard boil. Drop the octopus in. Boil for 2 minutes.
- Place the octopus in an ice bath to shock and stop the cooking process.
- Place the onions in a bowl. Season with salt. Cover with cold water and let sit for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse the salt off.
- Chop up the octopus in small bite sized pieces. Mix them together with the serrano peppers and half of the red onions. Juice 3 limes over the bowl. Season with salt. Place in the refrigerator and let marinate for 2 hours.
- Juice 2 limes over the remaining onions. Let marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Mix together the lime pickled red onions with the rest of the ceviche. Mix in the cilantro and olive oil.
