Guatemalan Christmas Food
Among the most popular foods found for dinner in Christmas Eve and during Christmas are tamales colorados (red tamales), tamales negros (black …
Among the most popular foods found for dinner in Christmas Eve and during Christmas are tamales colorados (red tamales), tamales negros (black …
Dobladas (turned over) is our last meal at the Virgen of Guadalupe Celebrations. Dobladas are made from nixtamalized masa (maize dough) like tortillas, but other ingredients are added before the masa dish is folded over itself and cooked. The ingredients that are added to the doblada are normally ground pork rinds, cheese, mashed potatoes, whole beans, et-cetera, but could be anything really. For instance I would like to find dobladas with cheese and loroco flowers; that would be very tasteful. Dobladas are normally fried or cooked over a comal (griddle made from cooked clay); just like tortillas. Dobladas are very similar to pupusas, except they are turned over. Check out the giant pupusas or Mayan pizza photos. Once dobladas ared cooked they are top with repollo salad (cabbage salad or coleslaw), tomato sauce and/or chile sauce (hot and spicy sauce).
Well, chiles rellenos are not just a Christmas seasonal food since they are available everyday, 24×7 in Guatemala. Last year I described Guatemalan chiles rellenos like this:
But like in anything else in life, something good emerged from such a tragic history. Fried plantains, rellenitos (fried plantain mass filled with black beans), atol de platano (plantain-based hot and thick drink) and even the wrappings of traditional Guatemalan tamal came from the banana trees. Man, I could on and on talking about bananas recipes and dishes in Guatemala like Bubba did in Forest Gump about shrimp.
By the way, although I have not mentioned it yet, every night as I write the daily entry I can hear the bombas (bombs) firecracker, the cohetes (firecrackers) being burnt, the church bells tolling, the canchinflines (whistle) firecracker and all kinds of unknown (to me) firecracker being burnt and creating a loud bang which I can hear as echoes through the far away streets. In additions to the smells and scents, the Christmas season in Guatemala has a soundtrack of its own.
The Christmas lights that illuminate the Parque Central and Calle del Arco were inaugurated on the night of December 1st with fireworks, …
In Guatemala, Christmas is a family day; an occasion for strengthening the family bonds. Christmas is also a feast day full of …
Guatemalan ponche, fruit punch is the most popular drink for the Christmas season. The fruit punch above was prepared from package from …
You can sense the Christmas spirit already in and around La Antigua Guatemala, alright. From the processions, the convites, the town fairs, …
Instead of buying stuff, these two musicians decided to play and sing some Christmas carols for a group of shoe-shiner boys who …
Today we will begin our Spanish lesson with some very important Guatemalan Spanish words: Poporopos, Plataninas, Papalinas and Churros. Poporopos: This is …
Just as in other celebrations, Lent has a food that is sold at the food stalls out side where velación, vigil, is …
Here’s a typical Guatemalan breakfast for Christmas, which is normally a quite day except for the fireworks and firecrackers which begin at …
Guatemalan buñuelos are kind like round French toast and they are served with a lot hot syrup made from water, sugar, anís (anise), cinnamon sticks, all-spice just to name the main ingredients.
Buñuelos are one of the most popular Guatemalan comfort foods for December. If you follow the white rabbit, you can browse some of the other comfort foods found at town fairs in December; of course, some of these comfort foods are found all year round.
In La Antigua Guatemala, religious celebrations draw together all kinds of heterogeneous people and the feast day of Virgen de Guadalupe is …
Rellenitos (little fillings) is the name given to a food made from plantain dough which molded into a semi-round shaped and filled (thus the name) with a black beans sauce or stuffed with manjar (custard). It is a sweet meal and normally eaten as junk food or as dessert. It is one of my favorite Guatemalan desserts and I am sure I am not the only one with a soft spot for this kind of meal. Check out this close-up shot of rellenitos to see the black bean sauce filling.
Guatemalan mole is very similar to mole poblano, which is a chocolate and chili based sauce (over simplification of the ingredients). One big difference is that mole poblano is a meal with chicken or turkey, while Guatemalan mole is a dessert of plantains ladled with chocolate sauce or mole for short. Bon appetite!
Guatemalan torrejas is what happens when you mix a good sampling of Guatemalan sweet bread known as molletes; stuff it with manjar …
In La Antigua Guatemala, religious celebrations draw together all kinds of heterogeneous people and the feast day of Virgin of Guadalupe is no exception. In the day of La Virgen de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe, you can find gringa mamas, indigenous mamas, ladino mamas and white mamas all taking their children dressed with indigenous clothes to visit the altar of La Virgen Morena. In many cases you have grandmas and the whole family taking part of the visit to Virgin of Guadalupe inside Iglesia de la Merced.
The color red is the official color of Nochebuena and Navidad in Guatemala and nothing exemplifies this better than the Pascua plants, poinsettia flowers… TAP to read the entire post and see the full size photo.
Here’s your illustrated Spanish words of the day: Noche Buena, literal good night, for Christmas Eve. Noche Buena is such an important …
Corn on the cob is among the most popular street foods one can find in Guatemala. Obviously, there several vendors in each …
As I mentioned yesterday, Cuaresma [Lent] has street food that is sold at the booths outside the church where the velación, vigil, …
La Casa del Ron or the House of Rum, is a new boutique lounge and bar that recently opened its doors in …
We have a lots tours in Antigua Guatemala, from coffee tours to organic farm tours and don’t forget the Antigua Photo Walks …
One of the benefits of having a Banana Republic (not the clothing store, but the real thing!) is the tremendous amount of …
Guatemalan chiles rellenos used to be stuffed chillis, normally guaque chilli, bell pepers, jalapeño, depends mostly on what is on season and …
Even though you can find ponche, fruit punch, year round in Guatemala and no town fair is missing the stands selling ponche …
Refacción can be roughly translated as simple snack time; but it’s much more than that. Refacción is the time where workers get …
The food served at fair stands is becoming more colorful. Not too long ago I showed you black pupusas at Feast of …
Believe it or not, not all the Guatemalan tamales are created equal. Some tamales are bigger than others. This is a self-evident …
We interrupt our regularly scheduled December comfort foods series to bring you the following special bulletin. Since yesterday night, December 15, there …
Guacamol has to be among the most present sauces or salads in the Guatemalan cuisine; as well as chirmol and often together. …
This entry should be called “ephemerides updates” because there several events that happened this week. On Tuesday, kids everywhere celebrated carnaval, carnival, …
Blame this photo on Eric, who just yesterday invoked the tortilla-making ladies. It is interesting how the aroma of freshly-made tortillas can …
It just occurred to me that the United States is one of the largest Spanish-speaking countries since it has one of the largest populations of Spanish speakers. Spanish has been spoken in the U.S. from a time before its independence. And at the rate at which the Spanish-speaking population grows, faster than any other, you may have to hablar español sooner or después. Remember that you can always come to La Antigua Guatemala to take Spanish classes in the more than 65 Spanish Schools available in this tiny colonial town.
Tacos is yet another word shared by the Guatemalan and Mexican gastronomy. If you’re accustomed to Mexican dishes, you have to be …
Since Manolo needs to improve his tortilla making skills, I am posting this image to help him in the process. Even Carmen …
New Year’s Eve Celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala:
For starters there are many things that make New Year’s Eve similar and different than Christmas’ Eve. If Christmas’ Eve is celebrated with the family at home at your parents’ home; New Year’s Eve can be celebrated anywhere: a discotheque, a park, the beach or La Calle del Arco, a popular venue in La Antigua Guatemala
Well, for starters you need ‘real’ nixtamalized maize dough (nothing of the maseca flour that Manolo uses), a ‘real’ comal (baked clay griddle) and you need to use ‘real’ leña (wood logs, quite possibly pine). After that, you need a good pair of hand to tortear (hit into shape) a real looking tortilla. You don’t need no sticking mold to shape your tortillas ma’am. 😉