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102 recipes

Postre MassiniCustard sponge with burnt sugar top

Montevideo's birthday cake of choice since the early twentieth century, the Massini is two thin layers of sponge sandwiching a thick filling of whipped cream folded with egg-yolk custard, crowned with a thin glassy crust of torched yolk and sugar. Bakeries across Uruguay sell it on Sundays. Traditional versions sometimes add a sweet fortified wine to the custard; this one is alcohol-free. The custard is cooked to a safe 71 °C. The common mistake is assembling with warm custard, which melts the cream into a puddle. Chef's tip: if you don't have a blowtorch, put the sugared top under a very hot grill for a minute and watch it closely.

80 min

Paraguayan Baking

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Mandi'o chyryryFried cassava with onion and egg

Mandi'o chyryry means 'fried cassava' in Guaraní, and it is what rural Paraguayan families make from yesterday's boiled mandi'o: chunks crushed and fried in a big pan with onion until crisp in places, then scrambled with eggs. It comes out for breakfast with cocido or for a quick supper, and costs next to nothing. Use sweet cassava, the kind sold in supermarkets. The mistake is stirring constantly, which turns it to mush; let the cassava sit and brown. Chef's tip: the best chyryry starts with cold, day-old boiled cassava, which fries crisper than freshly boiled.

45 min

Paraguayan Sides

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Buñuelos de algasSea lettuce fritters

On the beaches of Rocha, from La Paloma to Punta del Diablo, vendors walk the sand with baskets of hot buñuelos de algas: puffy, salty fritters speckled green with sea lettuce, eaten with a squeeze of lemon. Use dried sea lettuce or mixed seaweed flakes from a shop, or fresh sea lettuce only from a seller who harvests clean water; never pick it from a harbour or near drains. The usual mistake is frying in oil that isn't hot enough, so the fritters soak it up and turn greasy. Chef's tip: rest the batter for 15 minutes so the seaweed softens and the fritters puff more.

35 min

Paraguayan Snacks & Starters

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Pira caldoCreamy fish soup with cheese

Along the Paraguay River from Asunción to Concepción, pira caldo is the fishermen's soup, said to restore strength after a long night: chunks of firm river fish poached in a broth of onion, peppers and tomato fried in fat, then made creamy with milk and melted fresh cheese. Surubí or other catfish is traditional; any firm white fish such as hake or pollock works. The mistake most people make is boiling the soup after the milk and cheese go in, which splits it. Chef's tip: fry the vegetables until they are very soft and sweet before adding the water; that is where the flavour comes from.

60 min

Paraguayan Soups

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Morcilla dulceSweet blood sausage with walnuts

No Uruguayan parrilla is complete without morcilla dulce: a soft pork blood sausage sweetened with sugar and scented with orange peel, studded with walnuts and raisins, grilled until the skin crisps and served first, as part of the achuras, while the beef is still cooking. It is pork throughout: pork blood, pork back fat and natural pork casings. Making it at home is a project. Buy fresh pork blood with an anticoagulant added from a butcher who supplies it for sausage making, keep it chilled below 4 °C and use it within a day. The common mistake is poaching at a rolling boil, which bursts the casings. Chef's tip: keep the water at 80–85 °C, just shivering, and prick a sausage after 25 minutes: it is done when brown, not red, juice comes out.

120 min

Paraguayan Meat

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Cocido quemadoBurnt sugar mate drink

Cocido is how Paraguay starts the day: in Asunción, in the villages of Guairá and Itapúa, and in school kitchens, a pot of burnt yerba is brewed and poured into cups with chipa, the cheesy cassava bread, or with a hard galleta. The old way is to drop a glowing piece of charcoal into a pot with yerba and sugar and stir until the sugar burns. On a home stove you caramelise them together in a dry pan instead, which is safer and gives the same smoky, toffee-like taste. The drink is clear amber-brown, with roasted, slightly bitter mate notes over burnt-sugar sweetness; with milk added it becomes cocido con leche, creamy and coffee-coloured. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so treat it like a cup of coffee. The common mistake is letting the sugar go black: it turns acrid and bitter. Pull it off the heat when the caramel is deep amber and the yerba smells toasted, not burnt. It is ready when the liquid is a clear dark amber and tastes of toffee and smoke. Chef's tip: the water will spit fiercely when it hits the hot caramel, so pour it in from the side, at arm's length.

14 min

Paraguayan Drinks

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Capeletis a la CarusoStuffed pasta in cream sauce

Capeletis a la Caruso were created in a Montevideo restaurant in the 1950s and named after the great tenor, and they are still a Sunday lunch favourite in Uruguayan homes: little stuffed pasta hats in a rich sauce of cream, cooked ham (pork), mushrooms and onion, finished with grated cheese. Buy good fresh capeletis or tortellini; the sauce is what you make. The usual mistake is boiling the cream sauce hard, which makes it oily and grainy. Chef's tip: cook the mushrooms in a dry hot pan first until they squeak and brown, before any butter goes in, for a deeper taste.

35 min

Paraguayan Pasta & Noodles

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BusecaTripe and white bean stew

Buseca arrived in Montevideo with Italian immigrants from Lombardy and became a classic winter dish of Uruguayan bodegones and family kitchens, eaten on cold June and July days. Honeycomb tripe is simmered until tender, then stewed with white beans, pork chorizo, bacon, peppers, tomato and paprika into a thick, warming stew served with crusty bread. Buy tripe that is already cleaned and blanched (dressed). The usual mistake is undercooking the tripe: it needs a full 2 hours, until it's soft enough to cut with a spoon. Slow-cooker option: after step 4, cook on low for 8 hours. Chef's tip: a little grated lemon zest and parsley stirred in at the end lifts the rich, gelatinous sauce.

185 min

Paraguayan Meat

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Martín FierroCheese with quince paste

Ask for dessert in a Montevideo bodegón or a country parador and you may be offered a Martín Fierro: a thick slice of fresh, mild cheese laid with an equal slice of dense quince or sweet-potato paste, named after the gaucho of the epic poem. It's salty against sweet, soft against firm, and takes two minutes to assemble. Uruguayan fresh cheese is usually made with animal rennet, so choose one with vegetarian rennet if that matters to you. The mistake is serving it fridge-cold, which dulls both flavours. Chef's tip: cut the cheese and paste to exactly the same thickness, about 1 cm, so every bite has both.

5 min

Paraguayan Desserts

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Payaguá mascadaCassava and beef patties

Payaguá mascada is an Asunción family supper and a favourite for using up boiled cassava: mashed mandioca kneaded with minced beef, onion and garlic, shaped into flat cakes and fried until crusty, then eaten with a tomato salad or with mandioca on the side. Use sweet cassava. A common mistake is using watery, freshly boiled cassava, which makes patties that fall apart in the pan. Chef's tip: let the boiled cassava steam dry in the colander for ten minutes before mashing.

55 min

Paraguayan Snacks & Starters

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Tortilla de acelgaSwiss chard omelette

In Montevideo and Buenos Aires, tortilla de acelga is a homely supper or picnic dish, cut into wedges for a weekday dinner or packed for a Sunday at the beach, hot or cold. Plenty of chard is cooked down with onion and garlic, then bound with eggs into a thick, green, juicy omelette that is flipped in the pan like a Spanish tortilla. Serve it with a tomato salad. Suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 190 kcal and 7 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is leaving the chard wet: squeeze it well, or the tortilla weeps and won't set. If you're cooking for anyone pregnant, a young child or anyone with a weakened immune system, cook it until fully set in the middle. Chef's tip: cook it on a low heat with a lid on for the first side; it sets through without burning the base.

35 min

Paraguayan Breakfast & Brunch

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TereréIced yerba mate

In Asunción the hottest part of the day stops for tereré: a horn or cup packed with yerba mate, topped up again and again with ice water infused with crushed herbs, and passed round the group through a metal straw. It was recognised by UNESCO as part of Paraguay's cultural heritage, and the herbs (yuyos) change with the season and the drinker's mood. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so it isn't one for small children. The common mistake is pouring water straight into loose yerba, which then clogs the straw; tilt the yerba to one side first. Chef's tip: for tereré ruso, swap the water for cold orange or grapefruit juice.

10 min

Paraguayan Drinks

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MbaipyCheesy polenta

Mbaipy (say 'mbai-PU') is Guaraní country cooking at its plainest: coarse corn flour stirred into milk and onion fried in oil until it thickens into a soft, spoonable porridge, finished with cubes of fresh cheese that melt into strings. In the Paraguayan countryside it is a cheap winter supper; cooks often stir in shredded chicken to make mbaipy so'o, but this is the meat-free version eaten on fasting days and in plenty of homes. Queso Paraguay is made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian mozzarella or fresh cheese if you need to. The usual mistake is tipping the corn flour in all at once, which makes lumps that never cook out. Chef's tip: let it sit, covered, off the heat for five minutes before serving; it firms up slightly and the corn swells fully.

40 min

Paraguayan Vegetarian

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KoserevaCandied bitter orange peel

Kosereva is a Paraguayan home preserve from the days when nothing was wasted: thick strips of bitter-orange peel soaked and boiled to soften their bite, then cooked slowly in dark cane molasses until glossy and nearly black. In the countryside it is eaten after lunch with a slice of fresh cheese or simply on its own. Bitter oranges (Seville oranges) are in season in winter. The most common mistake is not changing the boiling water enough, which leaves the peel unpleasantly bitter. Chef's tip: taste a sliver of peel after the third boil; it should be gently bitter like marmalade, not harsh.

180 min

Paraguayan Desserts

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KitchaUnleavened flatbread

Kitcha (qita) is the everyday quick bread of the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands, baked when there is no time to ferment injera, and eaten for breakfast with tea or coffee, or torn up as kitcha fitfit with spiced butter and berbere. The dough is just flour and water, spread thick on a hot mitad griddle and cooked on both sides until speckled and firm. Traditionally there is no salt in it at all: about 0.0 g salt per portion, so it sits well beside salty stews. The usual mistake is spreading it too thin, which gives a cracker; aim for 1 cm so the middle stays soft. Barley or teff flour can replace some of the wheat for a nuttier bread. Chef's tip: press a little hollow in the middle with your fingers before turning, and the bread cooks evenly without a raw centre.

25 min

Ethiopian Breads & Parathas

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Ka'i ladrilloPeanut molasses bricks

Ka'i ladrillo — 'monkey brick' in Guaraní — is the sweet sold by vendors on Asunción buses and at country fiestas: roasted peanuts bound in boiled cane molasses and set in brick-shaped blocks, crunchy and dark with a slightly smoky toffee taste. It contains peanuts, so keep it away from anyone with a peanut allergy. The common mistake is taking the syrup off too soon, so the bricks stay sticky and never set. Chef's tip: test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water; it is ready when it sets into a brittle thread that snaps.

40 min

Paraguayan Desserts

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LampreadoCassava starch cheese fritters

Paraguayan grandmothers fry lampreado on Sunday evenings to eat with a mug of cocido, the toasted yerba mate drink: small pan-fried cakes of cassava starch, egg, milk and grated cheese with a little onion, crisp at the edges and stretchy inside. Some families also make it with leftover meat, but this version is all cheese. Queso Paraguay is set with animal rennet; a vegetarian Parmesan-style cheese plus mozzarella works well. The trap is a batter that is too thick, which gives heavy, gluey cakes. Chef's tip: the batter should drop slowly off a spoon like thick pancake batter; add milk a spoonful at a time until it does.

30 min

Paraguayan Snacks & Starters

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Atmit (warm barley gruel with spiced butter and honey)

When a baby is born in an Amhara household, visiting women bring or cook atmit for the new mother, and the same soft, sippable gruel is made for anyone recovering from illness. Roasted barley flour (or oat flour) is whisked into water and simmered until it thickens to the texture of a thin custard, then enriched with a spoon of niter kibbeh, honey and a pinch of korerima. It tastes nutty, sweet and buttery, and is drunk warm from a cup rather than eaten with a spoon. Some homes add a little milk for extra richness. A common mistake is tipping the flour straight into hot water, which makes lumps; slake it in cold water first. Chef's tip: keep it thinner than you think; atmit thickens as it cools, and it should still pour easily from the cup.

20 min

Ethiopian Drinks

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Besso (roasted barley flour drink and balls)

Farmers and travellers in Gojjam and Wollo have long carried a pouch of besso on journeys, because a handful of this roasted barley flour turns a cup of water into a filling meal. The barley is roasted until deep brown, ground fine and stored for weeks; stirred into cold water with a little sugar it makes a smooth, malty, slightly toasty drink, and kneaded with oil it becomes chewy little balls called chibto. It is eaten on fasting days, in the fields and by students before exams. Many families sweeten it with honey; sugar keeps this version vegan. The usual mistake is adding the barley flour to water all at once, which leaves dry clumps; whisk it in gradually. Chef's tip: roast the barley until it is the colour of milk chocolate and smells like toast; pale grains give a raw, floury taste, while black ones taste burnt.

35 min

Ethiopian Snacks & Starters

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Enkulal firfir (Ethiopian spiced egg scramble)

Cafés across Addis Ababa put enkulal firfir on the breakfast menu next to ful and chechebsa, and at home it is the fast weekend breakfast when there is no leftover injera to make firfir with. Red onion is softened in niter kibbeh, tomato and green chilli cook down into a loose sauce, and eggs are stirred through it until they set into soft, juicy curds with a gentle warmth. A pinch of berbere is optional; many cooks keep it clean and let the chilli do the work. It is scooped up with warm bread rolls or rolled into injera, with a glass of sweet tea or a macchiato on the side. Don't cook the eggs over high heat; they turn rubbery instead of soft and creamy. Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat while the eggs still look slightly wet; they finish setting on the plate and stay soft instead of turning rubbery and dry.

18 min

Ethiopian Breakfast & Brunch

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Gomen kitfo (Gurage minced collards with spiced butter)

Meskel in the Gurage highlands is the year's great feast, and next to the beef kitfo on the table there is always gomen kitfo, the meat-free 'kitfo' of greens. Collards are boiled until tender, squeezed hard and chopped so finely they become almost a paste, then worked with warm niter kibbeh, mitmita and a little korerima. The result is dark green, silky and rich, with a sharp chilli kick and a deep, slightly bitter leafy flavour. It is eaten with kocho and a heap of fresh ayib, and is also made on its own on non-fasting days. The usual mistake is leaving water in the greens, which makes it soggy and dilutes the butter; wring them out in a clean cloth. Chef's tip: chop with a heavy knife, rocking it again and again, rather than blending; a blender turns it into a purée and loses the fine, almost-minced texture.

40 min

Ethiopian Sides

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Bula (enset starch porridge with spiced butter and ayib)

Bula is the finest part of the enset plant, a white starch that settles out when the pulp is squeezed, and in Sidama and Gurage homes it is cooked into a smooth, wobbly porridge for honoured guests, new mothers and anyone feeling weak. Whisked into water and stirred until glossy and translucent, it is very mild and slightly elastic, then topped with melted niter kibbeh, crumbled ayib and a pinch of mitmita for warmth. It is eaten for breakfast or as a light supper, often with coffee. Dried bula is sold in Ethiopian shops; tapioca starch is the closest stand-in. Lumps are the common mistake, so always slake the starch in cold water first and whisk as it heats. Chef's tip: keep stirring right to the end; bula thickens suddenly and catches on the base of the pan in seconds.

20 min

Ethiopian Breakfast & Brunch

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Chuko (Tigrayan roasted barley and spiced butter snack)

Tigrayan mothers pack chuko for sons and daughters leaving home, for pilgrims walking to Aksum and for long bus journeys, because it keeps for weeks and a small piece goes a long way. Roasted barley flour is rubbed with warm niter kibbeh, berbere and a little sugar and salt, then pressed into a dense cake or shaped into fingers. The texture is crumbly and rich, like a savoury shortbread that melts in the mouth, with a slow chilli warmth and the toasty taste of the grain. It is eaten with coffee or black tea. The usual mistake is skimping on the butter, which leaves a dry mix that will not hold; squeeze a handful, and it should keep its shape. Chef's tip: warm the butter until just liquid, not hot, and work it in with your fingertips so every grain of flour is coated.

30 min

Ethiopian Snacks & Starters

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Anchote (Oromo root with spiced butter)

Anchote is a climbing plant native to western Ethiopia, and its orange-fleshed root is treasured in Wollega, where it is served at Meskel, at weddings and whenever honoured guests arrive. The root is boiled whole in its skin, peeled, then chopped or roughly mashed and warmed through with niter kibbeh, garlic and a pinch of fiery mitmita. The result is soft, slightly sticky and buttery, with a gentle sweetness somewhere between sweet potato and squash, and it is eaten on its own or with ayib and injera. Look for anchote at Ethiopian grocers; if you cannot find it, taro or cassava boiled the same way gives a close texture with a milder taste. Peeling it raw is a mistake: the sap is sticky and the flesh crumbles; boil it in its skin and the peel slips off. Chef's tip: stir the butter in over a very low heat so the root becomes glossy without frying or catching.

60 min

Ethiopian Vegetarian

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