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55 recipes

Seco de pollo

Seco de pollo is the weekday stew of Ecuadorian homes, from Quito to Cuenca, and the dish most lunch places serve on Mondays: chicken simmered in a green-gold sauce of onion, peppers, garlic, cumin and lots of coriander, soured with naranjilla (lulo) juice and often cooked with a little beer. It is served with yellow rice, fried ripe plantain and avocado. This recipe uses beer; for an alcohol-free version replace it with the same amount of chicken stock plus a teaspoon of sugar. The mistake is using too little coriander: the sauce should be fragrant and green. Chef's tip: if you can't find naranjilla, use half orange juice and half lime juice.

75 minAndean Chicken

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Salteñas

Salteñas are the pastries all of La Paz queues for between 10 and noon, when they come out of the oven: a slightly sweet, golden crust wrapped round a soupy filling of beef, potato, peas, olive and egg in a gelatine-set broth seasoned with cumin and ají. The trick, and the fun, is to bite off the top and sip the juice without spilling. The mistake is filling the pastry with warm stew: the filling must be chilled overnight until it sets firm, or it leaks. Chef's tip: hold a salteña upright, nibble off one corner and drink the juice before eating the rest.

90 minAndean Snacks & Starters

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Llajwa

No Bolivian table is set without llajwa, the fiery, bright salsa that goes on soups, potatoes, cheese empanadas and anything grilled. In La Paz and Cochabamba it's ground on a batán, a flat grinding stone with a rocking stone on top, which crushes tomatoes and locoto (a fleshy, very hot chilli) into a rough, juicy sauce. The signature herb is quirquiña, with a smell somewhere between coriander and rocket. Chef's tip: no stone? Pound in a mortar or pulse briefly; a blender whips in air and turns llajwa pink and foamy.

10 minAndean Chutneys & Dips

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Encebollado

Encebollado is the morning soup of Guayaquil and the Ecuadorian coast, sold from street carts and small cevicherías from dawn and famous as a cure after a late night: tuna poached in a broth of tomato, cumin and chilli, with soft chunks of yuca, topped with a heap of lime-pickled red onion and coriander, and eaten with banana chips (chifles) and popcorn. The mistake is boiling the tuna until it goes dry; poach it gently and add it back at the end. Chef's tip: pickle the onion at least 20 minutes ahead so it turns pink and loses its sharpness.

75 minAndean Soups

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Bolón de verde con queso

On Ecuador's coast, in Guayaquil and Manabí, breakfast is often a bolón: green plantain fried, pounded while hot with butter and salty cheese, shaped into a fist-sized ball and fried again until crusty. It comes with a cup of strong black coffee and a fried egg, and a little ají on the side; the other classic version uses pork crackling, but cheese bolón is just as common. Chef's tip: shape them while the plantain is still hot; once cold the starch sets and won't stick together.

50 minAndean Breakfast & Brunch

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Pique macho

Pique macho was invented in Cochabamba, legend says late one night when hungry customers asked for whatever was left, and it remains the sharing plate Bolivians order with friends: a pile of chips topped with beef strips and sausage cooked in a peppery sauce, with onion, tomato, locoto chillies and boiled eggs on top. The name roughly means "if it stings, you're a man", for the hot locoto. This recipe can include beer in the sauce; for an alcohol-free version use beef stock. The mistake is letting the chips sit under the sauce, so they go soggy; assemble right before serving. Chef's tip: oven chips work fine and leave the hob free for the meat.

65 minAndean Meat

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Menestra de lentejas

Menestra is the backbone of Ecuador's set lunches: in Guayaquil's almuerzo cafés, plates arrive with white rice, a ladle of thick menestra, fried plantain (patacones or maduros) and a little salad, usually beside grilled meat. On its own it makes a complete meatless meal. Lentils are cooked down with a refrito of onion, pepper, garlic, cumin and achiote until thick enough to hold a mound. Chef's tip: stir in a handful of chopped coriander right at the end; it's the fresh lift that makes menestra taste Ecuadorian.

50 minAndean Curries

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Api con pastel

On cold mornings in La Paz, El Alto and Sucre, market stalls ladle out steaming api: a thick, spiced drink of purple corn flour with cinnamon, cloves and orange peel. It's served with a pastel, a big, thin fried empanada filled with fresh cheese and dusted with icing sugar, crackling and blistered outside. Some stalls swirl the purple api with white (corn and milk) api in the same glass. Chef's tip: whisk the corn flour into cold water before it meets anything hot, or it lumps immediately.

75 minAndean Breakfast & Brunch

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Ecuadorian shrimp ceviche

Unlike Peru's raw-fish ceviche, the ceviche of Ecuador's coast, from Manta to Esmeraldas, is usually made with prawns that are briefly cooked first, then soaked in a juicy, soupy mix of lime, orange, tomato, red onion and coriander. It is served in a glass bowl with its juice, alongside popcorn, plantain chips and sometimes a dash of ketchup and mustard, as people do at Guayaquil's cevicherías. Because the prawns are cooked, it is a safer choice than raw-fish ceviche, but keep it cold and eat it the same day. The mistake is overcooking the prawns so they turn rubbery: one minute in the boiling water is enough. Chef's tip: save the prawn cooking water and add a few spoonfuls to the juice; it gives the ceviche its sweetness.

30 minAndean Fish

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Burmese chicken curry

Burmese curries are cooked the 'see pyan' way, meaning 'oil returns': onion, garlic and ginger are slowly fried with turmeric and paprika until the water cooks away and the oil floats red and clear on top. This chicken curry is the everyday heart of a Yangon or Mandalay meal, set on the table with rice, a sour soup, a salad and fish-sauce-based relishes, and every family eats it on ordinary weeknights. It is mild in chilli but deep in flavour, with fish sauce adding a savoury edge. The common mistake is draining off the oil because it looks like too much; the oil carries the flavour, and you spoon around it when serving. Chef's tip: pound the onion, garlic and ginger to a rough paste rather than blending them smooth, so they fry rather than stew.

65 min

Burmese Curries

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Locro de papa

Locro de papa is Quito's comfort soup, eaten on cold afternoons in the Andean highlands where nights drop near freezing. Potatoes are cooked until half of them dissolve into a thick, achiote-tinted broth, then finished with milk and cubes of fresh cheese that soften into strings. Bowls are crowned with avocado slices and served with ají (chilli sauce) on the side. Ecuador uses two potatoes, a floury one to thicken and a waxy one to hold its shape. Chef's tip: add the cheese off the heat; it should soften and go stretchy, not melt into an oily layer.

50 minAndean Soups

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Vegetarian mohinga

Mohinga is Myanmar's national breakfast, ladled from steaming pots at dawn on street corners from Yangon to Mandalay: thin rice noodles in a thick, golden broth fragrant with lemongrass, ginger and toasted chickpea flour, topped with crisp fritters, lime and chilli. The real thing is built on catfish and fish sauce. This vegetarian version is honestly different: dried shiitake and kombu give savouriness instead of fish, and the body comes from toasted chickpea flour, toasted rice powder and banana stem (or palm heart), so it's lighter and earthier rather than fishy. Chef's tip: toast the chickpea flour and rice until golden and nutty before they go in; they carry most of the flavour.

75 min

Burmese Soups

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Samosa thoke

Samosa thoke is pure Yangon street food, born from the city's Indian-Burmese communities: vendors on Mahabandoola Road chop crisp samosas into a bowl with cabbage, onion and mint, ladle over a thin, spiced lentil broth (pe hin ye), and finish it with tamarind, chilli and a squeeze of lime. The samosas soften at the edges while the middle stays crunchy, and the whole bowl is hot, sour and savoury. Use vegan samosas made without ghee. Chef's tip: ladle the broth over at the very last moment and eat straight away; samosa thoke left to sit turns soggy fast.

45 min

Burmese Salads

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Llapingachos

Llapingachos come from the central highlands of Ecuador, especially Ambato and the markets of Riobamba, where women fry them by the dozen on huge round griddles. The patties are mashed potato coloured with achiote, stuffed with cheese and spring onion, and browned until crisp. A full plate adds peanut sauce, a lime-dressed onion and tomato salad, avocado and a fried egg (the market version also includes chorizo, left out here). Chef's tip: chill the shaped patties for 30 minutes; cold patties hold their shape and get a better crust.

80 minAndean Vegetarian

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Shwe yin aye

Shwe yin aye, roughly 'golden heart cooler', is what Yangon drinks during the scorching weeks of Thingyan, the April water festival, when stalls set up along the streets to hand it out. It's a bowl of sweet, lightly salted coconut milk over crushed ice, filled with chewy sago pearls, cubes of green agar jelly, a scoop of sticky rice and, surprisingly, a few pieces of soft white bread that soak up the coconut. Chef's tip: make the jelly, sago and sticky rice in the morning and chill everything; assembled cold, the bowl stays refreshing to the last spoonful.

65 min

Burmese Desserts

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Sopa de maní

Sopa de maní is a pride of Cochabamba, Bolivia's food capital, where it starts the big midday meal in homes and market comedores. Raw peanuts are blended into a pale, creamy broth with vegetables and peas, and every bowl is topped with a tangle of thin, crisp fried potatoes and chopped parsley. It's usually made with beef broth; vegetable stock and a little more garlic keep it full-flavoured. Chef's tip: use raw (unroasted) peanuts and blend them very finely with water; that's what gives the soup its milky colour and silkiness.

70 minAndean Soups

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Ohn no khao swe with tofu

Ohn no khao swe is the comforting coconut noodle soup that Burmese families serve for weekend lunches and for crowds at donation feasts, especially around Mandalay and Yangon. Wheat noodles sit in a rich, mildly spiced coconut broth thickened with chickpea flour, and everyone adds their own toppings: lime, sliced raw onion, chilli flakes, coriander and crispy fried noodles. It's normally made with chicken; tofu and chickpeas take its place here. Chef's tip: stir the coconut milk in at the end and keep it at a gentle simmer; a hard boil makes the coconut split and turn oily.

60 min

Burmese Soups

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Vegetarian fanesca

Fanesca is cooked in Ecuador only once a year, in the days before Easter, and families spend a whole day shelling, peeling and stirring. Traditionally it gathers twelve grains and legumes (said to stand for the apostles) in a thick soup of squash, milk and peanut, with salt cod in the pot. This version leaves the fish out and keeps the festival garnishes: hard-boiled egg, fried ripe plantain, fresh cheese and parsley. It's rich and very filling; small bowls are enough. Chef's tip: cook everything the day before and reheat; like many big feast soups, fanesca tastes better on day two.

130 minAndean Soups

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Shan tofu

Shan tofu (to hpu) contains no soy at all: it is a smooth, wobbly block of chickpea flour cooked with water and turmeric, then left to set. Shan women sell it in golden slabs at the five-day markets around Inle Lake and Taunggyi, cut into cubes and dressed as a salad with chilli oil, garlic, vinegar and peanuts, or sliced and fried into crisp fritters. Warm and unset, it's eaten as a porridge (to hpu nway). Chef's tip: whisk constantly as it thickens and keep cooking for a full 8 minutes after it turns thick; undercooked Shan tofu tastes raw and never sets firmly.

25 min

Burmese Snacks & Starters

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Silpancho

Silpancho is the pride of Cochabamba in Bolivia and is sold in huge portions at the city's lunchtime silpancherías: a layer of rice, then sliced fried potatoes, then a beef steak pounded so thin it covers the plate, breaded and fried, topped with a fried egg and a fresh salsa of tomato, onion and locoto chilli. The mistake is not pounding the meat thin enough; it should be about 3 mm, so it fries in a minute and stays tender. Chef's tip: press the breadcrumbs into the meat with the palm of your hand, then pound lightly once more so they stick.

70 minAndean Meat

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Vegetable Shan noodles

Shan khao swe comes from the hills of Shan State in eastern Myanmar, where it's eaten for breakfast at markets around Inle Lake and Taunggyi before the day's work begins. Sticky rice noodles are tossed with a garlicky tomato sauce, sesame oil and crushed peanuts, then served with pickled mustard greens and a small bowl of clear broth on the side. Markets usually make the sauce with chicken or pork; here mushrooms and tofu give it the same savoury depth. Chef's tip: cook the tomatoes down until the oil separates and the sauce turns jammy; a watery sauce slides off the noodles and tastes flat.

40 min

Burmese Pasta & Noodles

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Lahpet thoke

Lahpet thoke is how Myanmar welcomes a guest: a lacquered tray of pickled tea leaves surrounded by fried beans, peanuts, sesame and garlic, offered after meals, at weddings and at monk feasts from Mandalay to Yangon. Mixed into a salad with cabbage, tomato, chilli and lime, it becomes the country's most famous dish: bitter, sour, salty and crunchy at once, with a gentle caffeine lift. Ready-made lahpet sometimes contains fish sauce and the crunchy mix often has dried shrimp, so this version quick-pickles loose green tea at home. Chef's tip: soak the tea in several changes of hot water and squeeze it hard each time; that's what tames the bitterness.

25 min

Burmese Salads

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Gin thoke

Gin thoke is lahpet thoke's livelier cousin, served on the same lacquered trays at teashops in Yangon and as a palate-wakener after a rich curry lunch. Young ginger is cut into fine threads and pickled in lime and salt so it turns pink and juicy, then tossed with cabbage, tomato, peanuts, fried beans and sesame. Burmese cooks often add fish sauce; salt, lime and a little toasted chickpea flour give the dressing body without it. Chef's tip: use young ginger with thin, pinkish skin if you can find it; mature ginger is fibrous and too fiery to eat in this quantity, so slice it extra thin.

17 min

Burmese Salads

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Sopa paraguaya

Paraguayans love telling visitors that their national 'soup' is eaten with a fork: sopa paraguaya is a dense, moist cornbread baked with sweated onions, fresh cheese, eggs and milk. It's on every table at asados, weddings and the Christmas meal, and sold in squares at bus stations from Asunción to Encarnación. The crust is golden and the inside soft and cheesy, more like a savoury pudding than bread. Chef's tip: soak the cornmeal in the milk for 15 minutes before mixing; hydrated cornmeal bakes up tender instead of gritty.

75 min

Paraguayan Breads & Parathas

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