Skip to main content

Cooking Around the World: Guatemala

I have to admit that I am not necessarily cooking all of the countries with equal enthusiasm on our cooking around the world adventure. Call it culinary prejudice. For some, when I'm researching, it's difficult to choose a recipe...becuase I want to cook them all! For others, I can barely find one that appeals to me.

Guatemala falls into the first category. There were so many different recipes I wanted to make. I ended up with three dishes to vicariously take us to this Central American country that is bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast.

The name "Guatemala" comes from Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs), meaning "place of many trees." I love that!

Many traditional foods in Guatemalan cuisine are based on Maya cuisine and feature corn, chilis and beans as key ingredients. There are also foods that are commonly eaten on certain days of the week. For example, it is a popular custom to eat paches (a kind of tamale made from potatoes) on Thursday. Don't ask. I couldn't figure out why. And certain dishes are also associated with special occasions, such as fiambre (a chilled salad with almost 50 ingredients) for All Saints Day and tamales, which are common at Christmas-time.

Since it is neither Thursday, All Saints Day, nor Christmas, I picked three dishes that I liked. Click on the titles for the recipes.

First up:


Elotes usually sold, on a stick, by street vendors. Elotes are roasted ears of corn, smeared with butter and topped with cheese, salt, lime juice and chili powder. Sometimes mayonnaise is used in lieu of butter, but being that we aren't a big mayo family, we stuck with salt, lime, and chili powder.

Then:
Carne Adovada

I dry-rubbed a whole pork tenderloin with minced garlic, ground cumin, ground paprika, freshly ground salt, and freshly ground pepper. A few recipes suggested dousing with worcestershire sauce, but that didn't sound very Central American to me. Then I let it sit all day, soaking in the flavors. And I simply handed it to my grill-master husband to cook. Easy!

Served with:

Fritanga is chayote squash. I actually didn't have a a chayote, but I did have an opo. It's similar, so I went with it!

I had thought to make a Tres Leches cake, but just reading the ingredients - and the amount of sugar used -  made my teeth hurt. So I picked up a funky fruit at the market instead. I'm not sure that dragon fruit actually grows in Central American, but I'm serving it anyway.

This Global Table Ambassador is signing off for now. We're off to Guinea next.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Quick Pickled Red Onions and Radishes

If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know how much I love to pickle things. I was just telling a friend you can pickle - with vinegar - or you can ferment - with salt - for similar delicious effect. The latter has digestive benefits and I love to do that, but when I need that pop of sour flavor quickly, I whip up quick pickles that are ready in as little as a day or two. I've Pickled Blueberries , Pickled Asparagus , Pickled Cranberries , Pickled Pumpkin , and even Pickled Chard Stems ! This I did last night for an upcoming recipe challenge that requires I include radishes. Ummmm...of course I'm pickling them! Ingredients  makes 1 quart jar radishes, trimmed and sliced organic red onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin slicer) 3/4 C vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar) 3/4 C water 3 T organic granulated sugar 1 T salt (I used some grey sea salt) 6 to 8 grinds of black pepper Proce

Aloo Tiki {Pakistan}

To start off our Pakistani culinary adventure, I started us off with aloo tiki - potato cutlets. I'm always game for tasty street food. I found a couple of different recipes and incorporated those together for this version. Ingredients 6-8 small red potatoes, scrubbed 1 T cumin seeds 1 T fresh chopped parsley 1/2 t ground coriander 1 t minced garlic Procedure Boil the potatoes until they are tender. Drain and let cool. Mash the potatoes. Traditionally they are mashed without their skins. I left the skins on. In a small pan, toast the cumin seeds on high heat until the begin to give off an aroma and begin to darken. Remove from heat and transfer to a plate to keep them from cooking any more. Blend all of the spices into the mashed potatoes, then shape into small patties. If you wet your hands, the potato mixture won't stick to them. Heat a splash of oil in a large, flat-bottom pan. Dip each patty into beaten egg and carefully place in the oil. P

Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles #BreadBakers

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Stacy of Food Lust People Love  is hosting and she wrote: "Your bread can be large, as in one big animal, or small - animal-shaped rolls. Use your imagination! Points for flavor and shape!" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's the animal-shaped bread basket from the #BreadBakers... Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love Hedgehog Bread from Making Mir