Ecuador and the traditional cuisine

The typical regional Ecuadorian specialities are separated through the regions.
So, for the sierra part of Ecuador, the traditional meals are based on potatoes, sweetcorn, cheese and avocadoes. Typical dishes include llapingachos, delicious little fried patties of mashed potato and cheese, often served with a fried egg, avocado, and beetroot and sometimes sausage or pork as well. Locro is a filling potato and cheese soup. Fritada, lumps of deep fried pork, are served with a cold beer and with mote (a type of boiled corn) and a salad of tomato and onion.

Guinea pig prepared named "cuy", is a famous and traditional dish in the highlands, often reserved for special occasions as they are not cheap. The guinea pigs are bred for the table, they are not pets, and they taste delicious, though there is not actually a lot of meat on them. You´ll need to eat them with your fingers to get at all the crispy skin and tasty meat, so make sure there´s somewhere to wash your hands before settling on the location for your cuy experience.

In the northeast of Quito, in Cayambe, the Ecuador regional speciality, bizcochos, a type of buttery biscuit which you can watch being baked in traditional wood-fired oven, and dairy products.

Typical Ecuador dishes in the coastal part use local ingredients such as plantain (savoury banana), yuca (a type of yam), coconut and rice. There are also a wide variety of subtropical and tropical fruits (papaya, pineapple, starfruit and many more) though these do not often appear on restaurant menus other than as fresh juices.

Encebollados are a wonderful local food, not well known outside of Ecuador. It consist of seafood in a tangy, tomatoey soup with mashed yuca, onion and coriander. Add plenty of lemon juice and pepper and popcorn, toasted maize or fried slices of plantain. Encebollados make a surprisingly good breakfast.

The seafood is plenty in Ecuador and has different ways to be cooked. Esmeraldas province, in the north, is rightly famous for its fantastic "encocados" - fish or prawns in a rich coconut sauce, usually served with rice and patacones. Encocados are difficult to find outside of Esmeraldas, but are possibly Ecuador´s finest traditional dish. Seafood boiled or marinated in lime or lemon juice with chilli and onion, is perhaps the most famous traditional dish of Ecuador, usually served with popcorn.