Living or visiting Guatemala brings its own set of challenges, one of them is cooking and eating. There are many local restaurants not listed on this website that have the same basic menus consisting of tough beef and food without much flavor. Then, there are only a few stores that carry "foreign" ingredients you are used to cooking with. So that leaves you a couple choices, eat out all the time or, the successful cook / food lover must learn to substitute or to create the missing ingredients.
By living in the next village up from Fronteras and being one of the only Gringo's in Seja, I have had the blessed opportunity to be introduced to local fare with local ingredients. This new segment of this website is to give you a taste of typica food from here in Guatemala to try when you feel adventurous on your own terms in your own home/boat. As long as I can come up with the translations for the recipe ingredients, I think this may be another fun way to show you how and why this is such a wonderful country.
Bit by bit, I'm starting to learn more about traditional Guatemalan cuisine as well as trying to absorb the language. This dish is an excellent example. It seems like such a basic dish, but the combination of Loroco and cream makes it really good! It is easy to make, takes about an hour, and I have never experienced a flavor like it!
I had never eaten Loroco until some friends from the other side of the Golfette (Thanks Dave and Carla!) gave me a few buds and I was hooked (No you don't get these buds at the Oil store!). To me they tasted a bit like asparagus and I got curious to see how the locals used these little flower buds. I am almost sure you will love it unless you have special dietary needs or are a picky eater.
Loroco, called Quilite (meaning "edible herb"), in Mayan, are small, green, unopened flower buds, used as a flavoring agent in Central American cuisine. They are cultivated here in Guatemala, and available in town from time to time. I picked some up so I could practice (and eat more of) this dish.
Chicken with Loroco in Cream Sauce
(Pollo con Loroco en Salsa de Crema)
Ingredients:
4 chicken legs cut into thighs and drumsticks
4 medium potatoes
1 onion
1/2 sweet red pepper
1 big tomato or two of the local ones
1 sprig of thyme
3 bay leaves
1 cup of loroco buds
2 garlic cloves (you be the judge of your taste, I can never use too much!)
1/2 cup heavy cream (I never was very good at following directions, I used a cup)
salt, pepper (I added about a tsp. of Fajita seasoning)
rice as a side dish
Instructions:
1. Chop onion and garlic, 1/2 sweet pepper and tomato and begin to saute in about 2 Tbsp olive oil.
2. Add the sprig of thyme and the bay leaves.
3. Saute until onion becomes translucent, and add chicken pieces to pan.
4. Cover and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes.
5. Cube potatoes; Add to mixture in pan with tomato and mix well.
6. Add about 1 cup water.
7. Cover pan; Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Add loroco to the pan; stir in; cover and simmer for 5 more minutes.
9. Add cream to the mixture; stir; heat gently
10. Serve with rice.
11. Enjoy, then brag to all your friends on how good this was and then get them hooked!
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