Introduction to Ecuadorian Food

Here are some general things you should know before you continue. If you are from Ecuador or a tropical Latin American country you may skip this. If not please read. You may also want to read the glossary on the bottom of this page, to be sure we are talking the same language

Platanos.- Platano is a banana, but not the same banana you usually find in the states, we call that banana "guineo" and we use it for desert like everyone else does it (except an ex-girl friend I had that used it in another way, JE,JE). A friend told me that you can find Platanos in almost any supermarket in the States, tehy are called Plaintains. Platano is used for cooking. There are several varieties of Platano, but here we will refer to all of them alike, for more information read Amas de Choza in "Cosas de Mi tierra" (Jose Antonio Campos). However I must first say one important thing, there are two ways to use the platano: verde (green, unripened plaintain) and maduro (ripe plaintain), verde is used more in salty dishes, and maduro in sweet dishes.
Chifles.- Chifles are made from platano verde (unripened plaintain), thinly sliced (cut at a 35° angle so it is longer than the thickness of the banana), it is used mainly as a side dish. Photo at left.
Patacones.- Patacones are also made from unripened plaintain (verde), you cut them at a 90° angle, but about 1" thick, you fry them (preferable in lard) and them take them out and hit them with a stone so that they are smashed flat (that's why some people call it patacón pisao or stepped-on patacón), then you fry them again. It is also used as a side dish, but the taste is different that of chifle. Photo at right.
Aji.- Aji is a sauce made of hot red peppers, not the same as the chili peppers (jalapeños), It's not as hot as them and it tastes different. Depending on your preferences you can make it more or less hot. If you don't make aji, you will be loosing half the pleasure of eating these foods. Altough there are several ways of making aji, 2 are the basic. Aji Costeño and Aji Serrano. Aji Costeño (from the coast) is a light sauce of Aji. You cut the Aji in slices and add some boiling water,let it cool down and add chopped "cebolla blanca" and culantro (See photo). Aji Serrano is prepared more thick, ussually the Aji is osterized with tomato, tree tomato or other stuff. And some people put choped carrot and chochos. It's very good with Food from the sierra and has more body than the light Aji Costeño.
Onions.- We use red onions a lot more than white ones, Red onion sauce is made by cutting them very thin, washing them with sugar and water (to neutralize a bit of the Clorhidric acid), and leaving them with lemon and salt for about an hour (encurtiendo). The white round onion is called "Cebolla Perla" (pearl onion). What we call "Cebolla blanca" (white onion), very used, is a large white onion (I think it's called scallion) , don't mistake it with the white round onion.
Achiote.- Achiote or Anatto, is a little seed used to give food coloring and flavor, it's a main ingredient in most dishes, so try to find it, Dishes won't taste the same with out it. I've seen in markets in the states something called "Anatto Butter" from "Goya", It's annato with lard. If you can find it this will do Ok. In any recipee, when I say Achiote, I mean Achiote oil or Achiote lard. To prepare Achiote oil, you put several achiote seeds in a pan with oil and put it in the fire. Cover the pan, because the seeds will jump and achiote stains are almost imposible to wash out. (As a matter of Fact there are some indians in Ecuador called "Colorados" (Red ones) that used to paint their bodies and hair with this stuff).
Rice.- Rice is a side dish for most of the food described here. Just put 1 cup of rice + 1 1/2 cup of water + 1/4 tsp. salt + 1 tsp oil in a pot. Cook at medium heat until it boils, cover and cook on low heat until ready. You may want to eat Cocolón also. That is the hard rice that forms in the bottom of the pot when you add more oil and it's considered a delicacy here in Ecuador. Don't mistake it with burned rice. Cocolón is of a light yellow - cream color, not black, and musn't have a smoked smell. Some dishes (like Seco) go well with yellow rice. This rice is made by substituing the oil for achiote when you cook the rice.
Refrito.- Making "Refrito" is a basic skill you'll nead for almost all dishes. Refrito is called to a fried preparation you put into most cooked dishes. Generally it is: chopped red onion, + chopped green pepper + choped tomato + Achiote + salt. You fry this mixture until the onions are cooked and loose their consistence. The exact preparation of refrito for each dish may vary (some don't have tomato, others include garlic, etc), but that's the general technique.
Encurtir.-Encurtiris cooking something in lemon and salt. It's used a lot for seafood (like ceviche), and for making sauces (like onion sauce). Food must be left in lemon in the refrigerator for as many time as neaded untill it's completly encurtido.
Lemon.- The best lemon to use in the recipees is limon Sutil. This is a small round green lemon (see the photo to the left) that's very very acid. When it ripes it becomes a pale yelow color and less acid. It's not as fragant as the big lemon you will find in cold countries, but the acidity of it makes it great for encurtir and for emulsifying the grease/oil in many soups with the soup itself, enhancing the falvor. If you can find it where you are preffer this lemon to the normal big lemon.
Tostado.- Tostado is a type of corn toasted. It's from the Sierra (mountains), but it goes very well with ceviches and Seafood. Also it's the best to take out the Alcohol-smell form the breath. To prepare it all you nead is corn and to fry it in a pan with oil. Let it cool down and add some salt.
Timing.- You can eat any food at any hour, but we ussually have a time for each of the dishes. For best enjoyment try them at the time suggested.
Where do I eat? .- If you visit Ecuador you can go to eat wherever you like, but I have some places I recomend in Guayaquil that are GREAT!. I don't know many places in other cities in Ecuador to make a list of them, but I would recomend you to avoid the fancy tourist places. Very few of them are good. What I usssually do is try to eat in a place where they have 1 good food and stick to that place for that food. Find out where the locals eat and go there. When you have a brain tumor you don't go to a general doctor. you go to a brain surgeon, If you have cravings for say "Caldo de Manguera", why should you go to a general restaurant if you can go to a specialist?.
Recipee Books.- There are several recipee books of ecuadorian food I've seen. The best one I've seen is one published by Hogar Magazine several years ago, and was called "Lo mejor de la cocina Criolla". Unfortunately, it's sold out. Other books have many recipes, but most have a problem trying to refine and change the dishes for tourists and letting out some important little details and part of the culture. I think they must be used with discretion, as a general guide and list of ingredients, but your own judgment should be used when following their recipees.
Regions in Ecuador.- In Ecuador you'll find some regions where food is different due to the culture of the people and the ingredients available loccally. I think the main regions are:

Esmeraldas (Top North Coast).- A lot of black people live here. Very cheerfull, they love music and partying. They have a distinctive touch in their food. They use a lot of coconut and seafood and many jungle animals not available in other places.
Manabi(Medium North Coast).- This is an agricultural region. People are very proud of their province, men have fame of being brave and having a short fuse and women of their beauty. They use a lot of peanut and banana in their food.
Guayaquil and the rest of the coast.- Agricultural and fisheries region, as I said, we are cheerfull friendly people. Our food uses banana, seafood and other ingredients from the coast.
Sierra (Andes Mountains).- People from the sierra are generally less cheerfull than in the coast. There is a strong indian influence in the food and food names (note that all coast food names are in spanish while most Sierra ones are in Quichua). They use a lot of potato, corn, and other grains.

Glossary

Here I have a table that may be a good idea to print to understand key ingredients in Ecuadorian cousine, Photo will be only for those stuff I think are not well explained. I just started putting it togheter if you find something missing or wrong please let me know:

Ecuadorian Name	Spanish Name	English Name
Achiote	bijol, bija, pimenton	Annato
Aguacate	Avocado, Palta	Avocado
Aji	Chile, Guindilla	Red pepper
Canguil	Palomitas de Maiz	Popcorn
Cebolla Blanca	Cebolla Larga, Cebollino, Cebolleta	scallion?
Cebolla Colorada	C. Paiteña, Cebolla Cabezona	Red Onion
Comino	Comino	Cuminum? Kummel?
Culantro, Yerbita	Cilantro, Coriandro	?
Mondongo	Callos	?
Librillo		?
Perejil	Perejil	Parlsey
Mani	Cacahuate	Peanut
Tomate de Arbol	?	??