Colombian recipes

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GarullasSweet cheese bread rings

Sugamuxi province, around Sogamoso and Tibasosa in Boyacá, is garulla country: bakeries and home ovens turn out these rings and rolls of rich, buttery dough kneaded with fresh curd cheese. They are slightly sweet, dense and crumbly, with a golden top, and they keep well for a few days, which is why they travel in bags back to Bogotá after weekend trips. Have them with a hot black coffee or hot chocolate at onces time. Cuajada is curd set with rennet, usually animal; a vegetarian ricotta or curd works. Overworking the dough is the usual error and gives tough, chewy garullas; knead only until it comes together. Chef's tip: squeeze the cuajada in a cloth to remove as much whey as you can before you start; wet curd makes the dough sticky and the rings spread flat.

50 min

Colombian Baking

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Helado de pailaHand-spun blackberry sorbet

Watching helado de paila being made is half the pleasure. In Pasto and Ipiales, and over the border in Ecuador, a wide copper or steel pan (the paila) spins on a bed of ice and salt in a straw-lined barrel, while the maker scrapes the fruit juice from the sides with a wooden paddle until it turns into a light, intensely fruity sorbet. Mora, lulo and naranjilla are the favourite flavours. At home a wide steel bowl sitting in a larger bowl of salted ice does the same job, and the hand-churning takes about 30 minutes, so get everyone to take turns. The base must be cold before it goes into the bowl; a warm base never freezes properly and turns into slush. Andean blackberries are tart and bright; ordinary blackberries with extra lime work. Chef's tip: keep scraping the frozen layer off the sides and folding it in, every 20–30 seconds; that motion is what makes the texture smooth.

60 min

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Jugo de borojóBorojó fruit milk shake

Borojó is the pride of the Chocó: a heavy brown fruit with a dense, sticky pulp and a sour, almost tamarind-like flavour. In Quibdó it is sold as pulp at the market and blended into thick shakes at juice stalls, and it carries a folk reputation as a restorative, sometimes jokingly called juice of love. Blended with cold milk and sugar it becomes creamy, tangy and filling, more a small meal than a drink. Outside Colombia, look for frozen borojó pulp in Latin American shops; there is no real substitute, though a mix of tamarind paste and banana gives a rough idea. Using too much pulp is easy to do, and the shake turns into a paste that will not go through a straw, so start with the amount below and thicken to taste. Chef's tip: blend the pulp with a little milk first to loosen it, then add the rest; borojó is so dense it can stall a blender.

10 min

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Jugo de corozoCorozo palm fruit juice

Corozo is a tiny, glossy red-black palm fruit that grows wild across Colombia's Caribbean lowlands, and in Sincelejo, Montería and Cartagena it is boiled into a deep wine-red juice that is tart, slightly bitter and very refreshing. It is sold in bags from street coolers and served with lunch at home, especially in the dry season when the fruit is plentiful. The fruit is mostly stone and skin, so it is boiled to release the colour and flavour, then mashed and strained. Blending the whole fruit is the trap here: the hard stones can break a blender and add bitterness, so only mash them. Frozen corozo pulp is sold in some Latin shops; there is no true substitute, but tart cherry juice with a squeeze of lime gives a similar colour and sourness. Chef's tip: dissolve the sugar while the juice is still warm, then chill well; it tastes sharper and brighter cold.

35 min

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Jugo de maracuyáPassion fruit juice

Passion fruit grows easily in the warm valleys of Colombia, and maracuyá juice is the default glass at many lunch tables, from Huila to the coast. It is intensely aromatic and sharp, so it needs plenty of water and sugar, and it is served over ice; a milk version is made too, but the water one is the more refreshing. Street juice stands blend it fresh all day, and it pairs especially well with fried fish, rice and patacones, or any spicy dish. People tend to over-blend it, crushing the black seeds into gritty, bitter bits; just pulse until the pulp lets go of the seeds, then strain. Frozen passion fruit pulp from Latin shops is a good, cheaper option and needs no straining. Chef's tip: scoop the pulp from wrinkled, heavy fruit; the more wrinkled the skin, the sweeter and more fragrant the fruit inside.

10 min

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Jugo de moraBlackberry milk juice

Order a juice anywhere in Colombia and the waiter will ask: en agua o en leche? With mora, the tart Andean blackberry, the milk version is the treat: a thick, dusky-purple shake with a sour-sweet berry flavour, served with lunch at corrientazo restaurants and in tall glasses at bakeries. Mora de Castilla is longer and sharper than European blackberries and is sold frozen in Latin shops; ordinary blackberries with a squeeze of lime make a good stand-in. Straining is what makes it smooth, since the seeds are gritty. The mistake many people make is blending the berries with the milk and leaving it to stand: the fruit acid slowly curdles the milk, so blend the fruit with water first, strain, then add cold milk and serve straight away. Chef's tip: very cold milk and a few ice cubes keep the drink thick and frothy.

10 min

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Jugo de tomate de árbolTamarillo juice

Tomate de árbol, the tree tomato or tamarillo, is everywhere in Andean Colombia: in market piles, in ají and above all in juice. Blended with water and sugar, it makes a tangy, deep orange drink with a flavour between passion fruit, tomato and apricot, and it turns up at lunch counters and family tables with almost every meal. Many people blend it with milk instead of water for a creamier glass; this version keeps it vegan. Blending the fruit with its skin is the most common misstep, as the peel is bitter and astringent; a quick blanch makes it slip off easily. Look for tamarillos in good greengrocers, or frozen pulp in Latin shops. Chef's tip: blend only briefly so you do not crush the small seeds, then strain; it stays bright and clean-tasting.

15 min

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KumisFermented milk drink

Kumis in Colombia is a thick, sweetened fermented milk, nothing like the Central Asian mare's-milk drink of the same name. Bakeries and cafeterias sell it chilled in glasses with a slice of plain sponge cake, the classic kumis con ponqué, and many families still make it at home. It is cool, tangy and creamy, somewhere between drinking yogurt and buttermilk. Use only pasteurised milk, heat it first, and work with very clean equipment: wash jars and spoons in hot soapy water and scald them with boiling water. The milk ferments at room temperature (20–28 °C, out of direct sun) for 12–24 hours, then goes into the fridge; never leave it out longer. Discard any batch with mould, pink or orange patches, or a rotten rather than sour smell. Adding the starter to milk that is still too hot is the common slip, as heat kills the cultures and nothing sets. Chef's tip: add the sugar after fermenting, then chill well before serving.

30 min

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Limonada de cocoCoconut lime cooler

Cartagena's heat makes limonada de coco almost compulsory: beach kiosks and restaurants in the old walled city blend it to order, and it arrives as a pale, frosty slush, sharp with lime and rich with coconut. It is a drink to sip slowly with fried fish, coconut rice and patacones, or on its own on a hot afternoon. Coconut cream gives the body, sugar balances the lime, and a full load of ice gives the frozen texture. The common slip is blending lime pieces with their peel for too long, which turns it bitter within minutes; use juice plus a little zest instead. Shake the tin of coconut cream before measuring, since it separates. Serve it straight away, before it melts and separates. Chef's tip: freeze some of the coconut cream in an ice-cube tray beforehand and use it in place of half the ice for a thicker, creamier result.

10 min

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Maduro con quesoBaked plantain with cheese

Cali cooks treat a black-skinned plantain as a treat rather than a fruit past its best, and maduro con queso shows why. The plantain bakes in its own skin until the flesh turns sticky and caramel-sweet, then it is split lengthways and packed with soft white cheese that melts into the hot fruit. In the Valle del Cauca it turns up at home lunches beside rice, beans and a sudado, and at weekend corrientazo counters as the sweet note on a savoury plate. The cheese of choice is a mild, stretchy quesillo or queso campesino, both normally set with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian mozzarella-style cheese if that matters to you. Where it goes wrong is the plantain: a yellow one with a few spots stays starchy and dry, so wait until the skin is almost completely black and the fruit gives when pressed. Chef's tip: bake the plantains on a tray lined with baking paper, because the sugars leak out of the skins and burn onto bare metal.

40 min

Colombian Sides

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Mango bicheGreen mango with salt and lime

Paper and plastic cones of mango biche are sold from street carts in Cali, Barranquilla and Bogotá, especially around schools, parks and bus stops. Biche means unripe: the mango is still hard and pale green inside, so it is crunchy and mouth-puckeringly sour, and the vendor cuts it into long strips and shakes on salt, lime and black pepper, sometimes a pinch of chilli. It is a refreshing, almost savoury snack, eaten in the afternoon heat. Choosing a mango that has started to ripen is the slip that spoils it: the flesh should be firm and white-green with no yellow, or it turns soft and sweet. Look for green mangoes in Asian and Latin shops. Chef's tip: chill the mango for 30 minutes before cutting; the strips stay crisp and the salt and lime cling better.

10 min

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FritangaMixed fried pork and sausage platter

Weekend fritanga is Bogotá's answer to a mixed grill, eaten standing at counters in the Siete de Agosto and Restrepo neighbourhoods or brought home on a big tray to share. Everything is pork or fried: chicharrón of pork belly with a blistered, crunchy skin, juicy pork chorizos, slices of rice-filled morcilla (blood sausage), little papa criolla potatoes, sweet plantain and griddled arepas, all eaten with fingers or toothpicks and dipped in sharp, watery ají. A fritanga is about contrast, so don't drown it in sauces: the lime and ají cut the richness. The common error is frying the belly straight from raw; it needs to cook gently in water first, which renders the fat and tenderises the meat before the skin crisps in its own drippings. Chef's tip: buy morcilla and chorizo from a Latin butcher and check the labels if you need the platter gluten free, as some sausages contain wheat.

100 min

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Cuchuco de trigoCracked wheat and pork rib soup

Up on the cold Boyacá plateau, around Tunja and Duitama, cuchuco de trigo is the soup that roadside restaurants ladle out at midday to farm workers and truck drivers. It is made with pork ribs (espinazo or costilla de cerdo), simmered until the meat slips off the bone, then thickened with cracked wheat, broad beans, peas, cabbage and two kinds of potato. The result is closer to a porridge-soup than a broth: nutty from the wheat, porky, a little smoky from the cumin and achiote, with the small yellow potatoes melting into the liquid. Serve it in deep bowls with avocado slices, a spoon of ají and a piece of arepa. The usual mistake is adding the wheat too early and walking away: it settles and catches on the bottom of the pot, so it needs stirring from the base every few minutes. Chef's tip: rinse the cracked wheat until the water runs nearly clear; washing off the loose flour keeps the soup creamy rather than gluey. For a meat-free pot, leave out the ribs, use vegetable stock and double the broad beans.

125 min

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Tamal tolimenseBanana-leaf pork and chicken tamal

Ibagué and the towns of Tolima make the most generous tamal in Colombia, and on Sunday mornings it is unwrapped at the table with hot chocolate, a slab of bread or arepa and a cup of black coffee. Inside the double banana-leaf wrapping sits a soft, achiote-tinted corn dough layered with rice, yellow peas, carrot, potato, a hard-boiled egg and chunks of pork rib, pork belly and chicken that cook through during the long steam. Expect a savoury, moist parcel that smells of the leaves; plus overnight soaking for the dried peas and marinating the meat. It is weekend project food, best made with friends on a production line. A frequent failure is a loose wrap: water gets in and the dough turns soggy, so fold tightly and tie firmly in a cross. Chef's tip: steam a test tamal first or check one after 3 hours; the meat inside must be cooked through, and if the dough still sticks to the leaf, give the batch 20 minutes more.

320 min

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Cocido boyacenseSteamed meats and tubers feast

Sunday markets in Villa de Leyva, Paipa and Sogamoso still have families sitting down to cocido boyacense, a pot in which chicken, pork ribs and beef steam slowly on a bed of cabbage leaves above the tubers of the high Andes: potatoes, cubios, ibias and chuguas, with cobs of corn and broad beans still in their pods. There is very little water; the meat juices drip down and flavour everything. It is tipped onto one big platter in the middle of the table, and the concentrated broth left in the pot is drunk from cups alongside. Expect clean, earthy flavours rather than spice: cumin, garlic and spring onion, and a bowl of ají or hogao for anyone who wants heat. The classic slip is too much liquid, which turns it into a boiled stew; keep the water to a few centimetres and the lid tight. Chef's tip: if you can't find ibias or cubios, use oca from a Latin or Andean grocer or a mix of small new potatoes and parsnip, which bring a similar sweet, earthy note.

125 min

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Puchero santafereñoBoiled chicken, beef and pork dinner

Old Santa Fe de Bogotá kept puchero for big family lunches and holidays: a broad pot of beef, pork and chicken boiled with cassava, corn, potatoes, cabbage and, unusually, ripe plantain cooked in its skin, which turns soft and sweet against the savoury meat. It comes to the table in two acts. First the clear, golden broth in cups or small bowls; then a platter of the meats and vegetables, with a pan of warm hogao (tomato and spring onion sauce) spooned over everything, plus rice and avocado on the side. People confuse it with cocido or sancocho, but the plantain and the hogao make it its own thing. Most disappointing pucheros come from boiling hard: the broth goes cloudy and the cassava breaks up, so keep it at a lazy simmer. Chef's tip: add the vegetables in order of how long they take, and lift each batch out onto a warm tray as it becomes tender, so nothing turns to mush while the beef finishes.

165 min

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LechonaRoast pork with rice and peas

Christmas, birthdays and town fiestas across Tolima and Bogotá call for lechona: a whole pig, boned, stuffed with its own meat, yellow peas and, in the Bogotá style, rice, then roasted for hours in a wood or brick oven until the skin turns to a glassy crackling. Purists in Ibagué leave the rice out. Few home kitchens fit a pig, so this oven version builds the same thing in a deep roasting tin: cubes of pork shoulder seasoned with spring onion, garlic and cumin, mixed with peas and part-cooked rice, under a blanket of skin-on pork belly. The filling soaks up the dripping pork fat; the top crackles. Serve with insulsos (plain sweet corn tamales) or arepas and lime. Start a day ahead to marinate the meat and dry the skin, plus overnight soaking for the peas. Most failed crackling comes from wet skin, so dry it uncovered in the fridge and salt it well. Chef's tip: score the belly skin closely with a very sharp blade but don't cut into the meat, or the juices bubble up and soften the crust.

330 min

Colombian Breakfast & Brunch

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Arepa con quesoCorn cakes with cheese

In the Andean cities of Bogotá, Medellín and the coffee region, breakfast very often means an arepa: a thick, griddled round of white corn dough, split or topped with butter and melting fresh cheese. This Colombian arepa con queso has cheese kneaded into the dough as well as on top, so it comes out soft and steamy inside with a crisp, freckled crust. Serve it with hot chocolate, aguapanela or eggs scrambled with tomato and spring onion (huevos pericos). Chef's tip: the dough should feel like soft play dough; if the edges crack when you flatten a ball, it needs a splash more warm water.

30 min

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Arepa de huevoFried corn cake with egg

Arepa de huevo is the famous fried snack of Colombia's Caribbean coast, sold from the hot oil drums of street cooks in Cartagena, Barranquilla and especially the beach town of Luruaco. A thin yellow-corn arepa is fried until it puffs like a pillow, then slit open, a raw egg is slipped inside, and it goes back into the oil to seal and cook the egg. It is crisp, a little chewy and rich. Street versions often add minced beef; this one keeps it simply egg and salt. Chef's tip: fry the arepas the first time just until they puff, not until golden, or they will burn during the second fry.

40 min

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Obleas con arequipeWafers with dulce de leche

Obleas are the giant, paper-thin round wafers sold from street carts in Bogotá's parks and around Floridablanca in Santander, where they began. The vendor spreads two wafers with arequipe, Colombia's dulce de leche, and adds whatever you choose: blackberry jam, grated cheese, condensed milk or sprinkles, then presses them together. They are crisp, sticky and fun to make with children. Look for oblea wafers in Latin American shops. Chef's tip: assemble them right before eating; the wafers soften within an hour.

10 min

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Arroz con cocoCaramelised coconut rice

Along Colombia's Caribbean coast, in Cartagena and Santa Marta, arroz con coco is the rice served with fried fish and patacones; it pairs just as well with beans, fried plantain and salad. The dark version, arroz con coco titoté, comes from cooking coconut milk down until the oil separates and the solids fry into brown, toasty flecks (titoté), then adding the rice with a little sugar and raisins. The result is nutty, sweet-savoury and light brown. Chef's tip: be patient with the titoté; it only tastes right once the bits are deep brown, but take it off the moment they turn the colour of coffee or it will be bitter.

45 min

Colombian Rice & Grains

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Empanadas colombianasPotato corn empanadas

Colombian empanadas are small, crunchy half-moons made with yellow corn dough rather than wheat, sold hot from street stands across Bogotá, Medellín and Cali and eaten with a squeeze of lime and a spoonful of ají. The classic filling mixes potato with hogao and often meat; this version keeps the potato and hogao, seasoned with cumin and coriander, which many families make on its own anyway. They are crisp outside and soft and savoury inside. Chef's tip: roll the dough thin, about 3 mm; thick corn dough stays heavy and absorbs oil.

75 min

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Bandeja paisaBeans, rice and pork platter

Bandeja paisa is the farmhouse feast of Antioquia and the coffee region around Medellín, served on an oval platter so big it barely fits on the table. This is a pork dish: crisp chicharrón (fried pork belly) and chorizo sit next to red beans, white rice, seasoned minced beef, a fried egg, ripe plantain, a small arepa and avocado. Paisas eat it for a long Sunday lunch, and restaurants in Medellín serve it every day. It looks like a lot of work, but most parts can be made ahead and finished together. The mistake most people make is frying the pork belly too hot from the start; it needs to simmer in its own fat first, or the outside burns before the inside turns tender. Chef's tip: cook the beans a day ahead; they thicken and taste better, and the day itself is then only frying.

190 min

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PandebonoCassava starch cheese bread

Pandebono is the warm cheese bread of the Valle del Cauca, the region around Cali, eaten for breakfast or as an afternoon snack (onces) with hot chocolate or a coffee. It looks like Brazilian pão de queijo but tastes different: the dough is cassava starch and a little precooked cornmeal kneaded with lots of crumbly fresh cheese, with no milk or cooking, so the rings bake up with a slightly crisp skin and a soft, stretchy, tangy middle. Chef's tip: shape them into rings or balls and bake them straight away; the dough dries out if it sits.

35 min

Colombian Baking

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Posta negra cartageneraBeef in dark panela sauce

Posta negra comes from the Caribbean coast, from Cartagena's old walled city and the towns around it, and it is what a family cooks for a birthday or a Sunday when the grandparents visit. A whole piece of beef is browned, then braised slowly with onion, a little cola-coloured panela (unrefined cane sugar) and Worcestershire-style sauce until the sauce turns nearly black and glossy, sweet and tangy at once. It is sliced and served with coconut rice, fried plantain and a tomato and onion salad. The most common mistake is letting the panela burn when caramelising: it should turn a deep mahogany and smell like toffee, not acrid smoke. Chef's tip: slice the meat across the grain only after it has rested, then return the slices to the sauce so they soak it up.

180 min

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Frijoles antioqueñosRed beans with plantain

In Medellín and across Antioquia, red cargamanto beans simmered for hours are the heart of the bandeja paisa and of everyday lunch. The beans cook with grated green plantain and carrot, which melt in and thicken the pot, and are finished with hogao, the tomato and spring onion sauce. This version leaves out the pork hock and gets its depth from a long simmer and a smoky pinch of paprika. Serve with white rice, avocado and an arepa. Chef's tip: grate the plantain on the fine side of the grater; it dissolves into the beans and makes them creamy.

120 min

Colombian Curries

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LuladaLulo and lime drink

Lulada is the drink of Cali and the Valle del Cauca, sold in tall glasses from street stalls and juice shops on hot afternoons. Lulo (naranjilla) is a small orange fruit with a green, sour, citrus-like pulp; for lulada it is chopped and crushed by hand rather than blended, then mixed with lime, sugar, cold water and ice, so you drink it with a spoon as much as a straw. Look for frozen lulo pulp or whole fruit in Latin American shops. Chef's tip: crush the lulo with a fork or muddler; blending smashes the seeds and makes the drink bitter.

10 min

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ChanguaMilk and egg breakfast soup

Changua is the breakfast soup of Bogotá and the high plains of Cundinamarca and Boyacá, where cold mornings call for something hot before work. Milk and water are simmered with spring onion, eggs are poached right in the pot, and the bowls get fresh coriander and pieces of stale bread or calado (dried toasted bread) that soften in the broth. It is gentle, creamy and filling. Chef's tip: keep the milk at a bare simmer; if it boils hard it can catch on the bottom and the eggs break apart.

15 min

Colombian Chutneys & Dips

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HogaoTomato and spring onion sauce

Hogao (or guiso) is the base and topping of Colombian home cooking, from Antioquia to Cali: ripe tomatoes and long spring onions (cebolla larga) cooked slowly in oil with garlic and cumin until soft and jammy. It is spooned over patacones, arepas, boiled potatoes and yuca, stirred into beans and rice, and served in a little bowl at the table. Chef's tip: cook it low and slow; a fast, hot hogao tastes raw and sharp, while a patient one turns sweet.

20 min

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Sancocho de verdurasVegetable and plantain stew

Sancocho is the big Sunday soup Colombian families cook outdoors on riverbanks and fincas (country houses), with every region from Antioquia to the Valle having its own version. This vegetarian sancocho keeps the essentials: green plantain broken by hand, cassava, potatoes and corn on the cob simmered in a broth seasoned with spring onion, garlic, cumin and plenty of coriander, until the starches thicken it. Serve each bowl with white rice, avocado and lime on the side. Chef's tip: break the plantain into pieces with your hands rather than cutting it; the rough edges release starch and thicken the broth.

60 min

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Buñuelos colombianosCheese and cassava fritters

In December, Colombian families gather for the novena de aguinaldos, nine evenings of prayers and carols before Christmas, and the reward afterwards is a plate of hot buñuelos with a bowl of natilla. These little golden balls are made from crumbly cheese, cassava starch and cornflour, fried until they puff and roll themselves over in the oil. They are crisp outside, airy and cheesy inside. Chef's tip: start the oil only warm, around 150 °C; buñuelos fried too hot crack open and stay raw in the centre.

35 min

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AguapanelaHot panela and lime drink

Aguapanela is simply panela (unrefined cane sugar) dissolved in water, yet it is one of Colombia's most loved drinks: drunk hot at breakfast in Bogotá and the Andes with a slice of fresh cheese dropped in to melt, given to children with a cold, and served iced with lime in the hot lowlands. This page is the hot version; the cold, lime-heavy cousin is Venezuela's papelón con limón. Chef's tip: simmer the panela gently until it dissolves completely and the drink smells of caramel; rushing it leaves sugary lumps at the bottom.

12 min

Colombian Chutneys & Dips

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Ají picanteFresh chilli and coriander sauce

Every Colombian table has a bowl of ají, the loose, fresh hot sauce spooned onto empanadas, patacones, sancocho and arepas. Unlike a thick salsa, it is thin and bright: chopped hot chilli, spring onion, tomato and lots of coriander in lime juice, vinegar and water. Each family, from Bogotá to the Pacific coast, swears by its own heat level. Chef's tip: make it at least 30 minutes before eating; the onion softens and the chilli heat spreads through the liquid.

10 min

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Ajiaco santafereñoChicken and potato soup

On cold, drizzly afternoons in Bogotá, high up in the Andes, families sit down to ajiaco: a thick chicken soup made with three kinds of potato. Small yellow papas criollas melt away and thicken the broth, while waxy and floury potatoes keep some bite. Guascas, a dried herb with a grassy, artichoke-like taste, gives the soup its unmistakable flavour, and each bowl comes with corn on the cob, a spoon of cream, capers and slices of avocado to add at the table. A frequent mistake is adding all the potatoes at once; the papas criollas go in first so they can dissolve, the firmer ones later. Chef's tip: if you can't find guascas in a Latin shop, use a mix of dried oregano and a little dried thyme; the soup will still be good, just less Bogotá.

100 min

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Natilla colombianaPanela and cinnamon milk pudding

Natilla is the firm, sliceable Christmas pudding of Colombia, stirred on the night of the alumbrado (7 December) and through the novenas, and always shared with buñuelos. Milk is infused with cinnamon, sweetened with panela (unrefined cane sugar), thickened with cornflour and finished with grated coconut and raisins, then poured into a dish to set. It is dark gold, caramel-scented and soft, a bit like a firm flan. Chef's tip: stir without stopping once the cornflour goes in, scraping the corners of the pan, or lumps and a scorched bottom will form.

40 min