Andean potato against world hunger
What delicious fun we 7 chefs fighting hunger had, showing off our creative potato recipes to the press here in Quito. (There was even a very nice potato ice cream! ) FAO had organized the contest; I was honored and chose to quote from Pablo Neruda’s Ode to the Potato and to extol the nutritional virtues of the potato. Amazing the quantity of Vitamin C which even a cooked potato has!
Make sure to use organic potatoes; here colorful, strangely shaped native varieties are available which don’t require nasty chemicals, but they can be difficult to find.
Many “locros” are eaten in the Andes, but a superior one which is also wonderfully quick and simple is made from potatoes in Ecuador. Tourists will remember a colorful almost orange soup, thick and creamy (and amazingly with no cream), topped with a thick slice of avocado and, if lucky, served with red chile tamarillo salsa.
I am happy to share my recipe for the favorite of all potato soups.
“Locro de papa” Creamy Ecuadorian Potato Soup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon annatto oil (gives the characteristic golden hue, but could be left out)
2/3 cup chopped scallion
2 lbs. Yukon gold or other mealy potato, peeled (approx. 6 medium potatoes)
1½ cups milk
6 cups hot water
salt and pepper
1 cup “queso blanco”, crumbled or grated (substitute cow’s milk feta)
(optional – 2 sprigs cilantro)
In a heavy 4-5 qt. saucepan, heat vegetable and annatto oils. Add scallions and sauté over low heat until transparent.
Slice half of the potatoes thinly. Cut the others in 1½ inch chunks. Add all the potatoes to the sauce pan and stir constantly, over médium-high heat for 5-10 minutes until potatoes are somewhat browned and transparent. Let them stick somewhat, that gives flavor.
Add the milk, when boiling add the water, salt and pepper. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until the sliced potatoes have partly disintegrated and thickened the “locro”. (This process can be helped along by mashing some of the potato against the sides of the saucepan with a wooden spoon.)
Just before serving, heat with the cheese and cilantro.
Make sure to top the soup bowl with a thick avocado slice and serve with your favorite salsa.
Makes 4 main dish servings.
Posted by: michellefried in Ecuador, Recipes, Soups, health, indigenous, meat, peanuts, potatoes
May 23rd, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Hi, nice posts there
thank’s for the interesting information
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Glad you enjoy it, Mike. Do you have some relationship with Ecuador or Andean foods?
May 24th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Hi Michelle, I’ve just come across your website and would like to enlist your help. I have my final Origins of Agriculture class this coming Thursday and we’ve been asked to bring in a food from the region that we focused on in class, which in my case was the Andes. I spent a fair bit of time in Argentina, but am not as familiar with the Peru/Bolivia/Chile cuisine besides its use of the potato. Do you have any good recipes involving potatoes that could feed about 8 people and that wouldn’t be too messy or difficult to transport?
Thanks
May 24th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Hi Alex,
Both potatoes and peanuts originated in the Andes (or down the hill from them, in the case of peanuts). I am happy to share with you this simple recipe which pleases US tastebuds and is very typical in the highlands.
“Aucha”
2 lbs. mature, mealy potato
6 large outer leaves of cabbage
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
“color” — from annatto seeds, lends a golden hue
3/4 cup chopped scallion
1/4 teaspoon freshly toasted and ground cumen
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
3 cups low fat milk
1 raw red chili, whole
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Peel and cut the potatoes into large, irregular chunks. Bring to a boil in salted water and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the central vein from the cabbage leaves and cut the open leaves into 2 inch squares. Add to the potatoes and simmer until almost soft.
Prepare the peanut sauce by sauteeing in a heavy saucepan the onion in the hot oil, with the “color” until transparent. Add the cumin. Add 2 cups of the milk, salt and heat. Blend the peanut butter with one cup of the milk and add to the saucepan with the chli. Heat and simmer until the sauce is thick and luxurious.
Drain the potatoes and cabbage. Pour the sauce over them and merely heat.
Please let me know how your classmates enjoyed this Andean dish!
March 29th, 2010 at 9:05 am
My name is Piter Jankovich. oOnly want to tell, that your blog is really cool
And want to ask you: is this blog your hobby?
P.S. Sorry for my bad english
March 29th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Hello Piter. This blog is sort of my hobby, since I adore thinking about, and eating real food from the Andes, where I live. My being a public health, ecological nutritionist makes the themes in this blog also part of my profession, which is also my hobby.