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Chontaduro
Chontaduro: boiled peach-palm fruit with salt and honey, the Pacific coast and Cali street snack
Street vendors in Cali, Buenaventura and Tumaco push carts piled with bright orange and red chontaduro, peeled to order and sprinkled with salt, then drizzled with honey. The fruit of the peach palm, it has a dense, floury flesh somewhere between roasted chestnut, squash and boiled egg yolk, and a savoury-sweet flavour that people from the Pacific coast swear by as an energy food. At home, the fruit must be cooked, as raw peach palm is unpleasant and irritating to the throat. Fresh fruit appears in Latin American shops in season; frozen or jarred cooked chontaduro is easier to find and only needs warming. Undercooking is the common slip: the flesh stays fibrous and scratchy, so keep boiling until it crumbles easily. This is vegetarian but not vegan because of the honey; panela syrup is a vegan swap. Chef's tip: cut the fruit in half and remove the stone before salting, so the seasoning reaches the warm flesh.
- Total time
- 65 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Rinse 2 ¼ lb fresh chontaduro (peach-palm fruit) and put it in a large pot with water to cover by 5 cm and 1 tbsp salt.
Step 2: Bring to the boil over a high heat, then simmer for 50–60 minutes, until the skins split and a knife slides easily into the flesh. If using frozen cooked fruit, simmer for 10 minutes, until hot through.
55 minStep 3: Drain and leave for 5 minutes, until cool enough to handle.
5 minStep 4: Peel off the thin skin with your fingers, then halve each fruit and lift out the stone.
Step 5: Arrange on a plate, sprinkle with 1 tsp flaky salt and drizzle with 4 tbsp honey. Eat warm.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 310 kcal
- Protein
- 4 g
- Carbs
- 58 g
- Fat
- 8 g
- Fibre
- 6 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does chontaduro take?
- About 65 minutes in total: 5 minutes to prepare and 60 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of honey?
- Maple syrup or golden syrup, same amount.
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