Guatemalan Cuisine: Chapin Breakfast
First of all, my apologies to all those masochist Guatemalans who are abroad and visit this humble blog to get their daily doze of nostalgic pain. Sorry guys and gals!
Now unto the photo. This is Pollo Campero fast food version of the Chapin Breakfast or desayuno chapín (Chapin is the self-imposed nickname for Guatemalans). The traditional Guatemalan breakfast comes with refried black beans, sunny-side-up or scrambled eggs, chirmol (tomato sauce), fresh cheese, fried plantains (platano or platano macho), cream, tortillas or pan francés (French rolls), and coffee. This version of the Chapin breakfast is called: Huevos Divorciados (Divorced eggs) because it has two sunny-side-up eggs, each with its own sauce. The green sauce is made with miltomate (tomatillos) and the red sauce with regular roma tomatoes. More on Latin American salsas (sauces) on Wikipedia. Here is a recipe for Chicken Skewers with Chirmol Salsa. Bon appetite!
Etymological side note: The most famous and most-widely used Guatemalan red tomato-based sauce is known as Chirmol which is a deformation of the Aztec’s Nahuatl language Chili Mole. Chili for chile or hot pepper and mole for sauce. Miltomate is the name by which tomatilloes are known in Guatemala. Mil for milpa and tomate for small green tomato also known as husk tomato, jamberry, husk cherry or ground cherry. Don’t forget to read my entry on Milpa and Mayan Pizza.
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