So apart from all the wood chopping, tomato saving, and animal caretaking I have done over the past month and a half, I have also learned to cook A TON of Mapuche food. As part of Chile´s ecotourism network, Irma and her family often host large tour groups as well as individual families. They come for the afternoon to spend time in the Ruka (Mapuche thatch building), to listen to Irma´s stories, and to eat. And boy...do they eat. Here´s what I´ve been cooking...
Sopaipillas. First, we whip up a buttery bread dough and let it sit for about a half hour. We then break the large mass into smaller pieces (about the size of a chestnut) and roll them into perfect smooth dough balls. After they sit for about fifteen minutes, we flatten them slightly and put a hole in the middle. From there, we fry them in scalding oil that has been heating up over the open fire. When they are golden brown on each side, we take them out and serve them. Essentially, they are Mapuche donuts. But what makes them so special is that we serve them with a variety of sauces including fresh honey, homemade jam,and pebre (a salsa-like concoction made with tomatoes, onions, coriander, chili pepper, lemon, salt, and olive oil).
Catuto: Now this is some traditional Mapuche food. First, we boil fresh wheat seeds (these have neither been ground or dried, so they might be hard to find in the typical super market). When they have boiled for about an hour and a half, we drain the water (save the brown wheat water because it can be used as a medicinal drink when someone is feeling sick). We then grind the wheat with a metal hand grinder (not sure of the Brookstone equivalent) and it forms a sticky, pasty, somewhat chunky wheat paste. Irma then takes a small handful, while it is still hot,and rolls it multiple times with a large stone. After it has been sufficiently flattened, stretched, and mixed, she rolls it into the shape of an elongated diamond (it is meant to symbolize a fish). There are two ways to serve this dish. One, fresh with honey and jam. Two, fried with garlic and served with pebre. My personal favorite. It is a really weird dish to describe. One would think it would taste and feel like heavy bread, but it is much more...squishy? I don´t know, I still cannot describe it. Dense though. That`s for sure.
Pastel de Choclo: You can find this all over the place in the Lake´s district, especially during the months of January and February. This is corn season, and the Chilean capesinos and Mapuche people eat as much corn as they possibly can. Pastel de choclo can be made a variety of ways, and every person has their own preference. Sweet. Salty. Crunchy. Buttery. So some of the additives as well as the type of corn used can be modified. But this is how we did it. Using massive, unsweetened corn, we separated the kernels from the husk and immediately sent them through the hand grinder to make a liquidy mush. We then cooked that corn with milk, salt, and basil. Meanwhile, we heated up a meat-onion-hard boiled egg-olive mixture to use as the base of the pie. In individual, oven-safe bowls, we linedthe bottom with the meat mixture and put the corn on top. After that baked for about 45 minutes, we topped the pie with a very light dusting of sugar to give it a carmelized, crunchy, semi-sweet bite. Mmmm.
Pishco: In Mapuche, pish means everything and co means water. So this is basically a delicious vegetable soup madeby putting everything in water. Add what you will and spice it as you like. Make sure to top it with merkèn (a hot pepper spice) and coriander, because they use that on EVERYTHING.
Soup: Every day. Made with whatever garden goodness is in season.
...and much more. But these were the basic staples. Ooph the pancita is growing happily!
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