BISCOCHOS

THE MAKING OF BISCOCHOS, Ecuador from Brenda Yost on Vimeo.

Making biscochos, look at that hugh ball of dough!

This is the oven at another shop across the highway.


The owner of the shop stranding by the brick oven.

These are biscochos!

Anytime we travel to Otavalo we stop and get biscochos. They are kind of hard to describe, kind of a biscuit, but very light and crumbly. As far as I know this area, kind of a fork in the road before turning to go into Otavalo, is the biscocho capital of the country, maybe even the world. There are several shops here that sell biscochos. They prepare them on site and bake them in large brick ovens. We usually eat them with a carmel dip or a special cheese that is also made in this area, they are very good dipped into hot chocolate. On one of these trips I happened to wander into the back room and found young people making them, so I took a video and thought everyone might enjoy seeing the process.

DAD IS EATING STRANGE THINGS!

Sorry to be so far behind on the posts, but this seems to fit right after Thanksgiving! Should help us appreciate the good food we have, of course these are considered a delicacy in Tena, so I guess we shouldn´t judge.

This is licking the platter clean! Some took the fish heads from those of us who didn´t eat the heads and finished them off. Sorry it is a little blurry.


I thought I did very will eating my meal until I saw how clean the others plates were!

Lunch is served! The fish is Tilapia, the white fibourus things in front is yuca, the orange lime is a cross between a mandarina and a lime and is very good. At the top is palm heart and green beans, the onions and tomatoes are a typical salad.


Our lunch being cooked!


Dad popped it in his mouth so quickly I did not get a good picture. He said he would have chickened out if he had thought about it.


All cooked up and ready to eat!


They are kept in these small containers so they are fresh ready to cook.


One of the chicha de chonta before it is cooked.

While we were in Tena we were taken out for lunch at a small outdoor eating establishment. We had fish (piscado) which was wrapped in a large leaf and cooked on an open fire grill. We also had yuca, palm heart and green beans (I think). Then we were served a delacacy, chicha de chonta, the best way I can describe them is plump grubs. They live in the palm trees here and I guess people go out and gather them up. They are unique to Tena and I am told they taste like chicken skin. I did not try one but Dad was brave and ate one.

Lemon Meringue Cake

This dessert was impressive looking and really tasted good if I do say so myself!



I am still working on my baking skills! Cooking at 10,000 feet is a challenge, but I am getting better, although my cookies still need some help. I was assigned to bring the dessert for a Sunday Dinner with President and Sister Ghent and the other Senior Missionaries. I don't know if I have seen this cake before or if I truly made it up in my dreams. I made a white cake cut it in half and then put lemon pudding filling in the center and on top. I made a meringue and covered the cake then baked for about 10 minutes. It was so good! Everyone seemed to enjoy it. The lemon pudding packages I have are very precious and I was worried about it not turning out and wasting one but it was worth the gamble. We may do a lemon meringue cake instead of a pie for Thanksgiving.

Adventures in Eating

I have to share a couple of pictures of the food. We have tried some interesting dishes but I find that I am not as adventurous as I was when I was younger. I have not found a specific cuisine that is unique to Ecuador. Traditional foods are rice, beans and chicken. Ceviche, a soup served cold that has a citrus base with shrimp, seems to be the main traditional dish I have noticed. We did try this at a buffet we went to and I was not impressed, but I have decided to try it again when we go to a better restaurant.

Maíz Tostados roasted corn with aji sauce, a hot sauce that the missionaries love.

Most Friday´s we take the Sister Missionaries to lunch, here is Sister Rogers, our mission nurse, and her companion Sister Figueroa.


Sometimes the food does not have lots of eye appeal, but there is usually plenty, it is filling and doesn´t cost much. This is chicken pounded flat and thin then breaded and deep fried.

A typical lunch, I get ensalada russo and Dad gets chicken, rice and eggs, this day he skipped the chicken.




This is granadilla, you eat the seeds inside, I need to do a whole post on the different fruits that are here, there are so many and some are really different looking. Yes, it is slimy and the seeds are very crunchy and leave a funny taste in your mouth. Elder Vomocil says he makes a small hole in the shell and sucks out the slimy juice without the seeds.


Shrimp, camaronies, is by far my favorite.

This is a dish we had in Riobamba, hornado, pork off the pig with crisp pieces of golden brown skin; mote, boiled kernels of corn, lettuce (which we did not eat) and papas (potatoes). The pork was a whole pig roasted on an open grill.


I had wanted a good piece of beef and this was really good. Dad liked it because the meat was from Uruguay. The meal was meat and papas fritas (french fries) no vegetables involved. It is served on a grill of hot coals so it stayed hot and we would cut off what we wanted.


This was our breakfast in Guayaquil,it is called Balón and is made from green bananas, ham, and cheese all rolled together and cooked. It was actually pretty good. It is a traditional food from the coast. It kind of rivals the Egg McMuffin. The juice is tomate de árbol, tree tomatoes, it is really good. Bet you never knew tomatoes grow on trees.

Lunch with Fernando and Anna Lucia Aguirre

Higos con queso, figs with cheese. This also takes much time to prepare, the figs are soaked in water overnight then cooked in the honey sauce for several hours, it is very good and very sweet ( have no idea of the calories)
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This soup is made with 12 gains, representing the 12 apostles, it is time consuming to made, there is also dried salt cod and empanadas, small bread balls that are placed in the soup when serving it.

Friday May 6, 2011

Fernando told us to be ready to leave at 11:30 but did not tell us where we were going. He took us to his home where his wife, Anna Lucia, had prepared a special lunch for us. She had made Fanesca Ecuatoriana, a special soup that is made for Easter here in Ecuador. It is made with 12 different porotos (beans) which some say represent the 12 apostles. I could not believe the size of pot she made the soup in it was huge. I did some research to find out more about this soup. It is very time comsuming to made and is only made at Easter because that is when all the ingrediants are available fresh, thus the large pot (if you are going to go to the effort of making it may as well make a large pot). She also served us Higos con queso (figs with cheese) in a special sugar/honey sauce. They are really good but very sweet and two is almost too much to eat. We have become very fond of Fernando and his wife, they are great people.