Here’s your Guatemalan Spanish Word of the Day: turrón or meringue is the Guatemalan word for well-beaten egg whites and sugar. In México, turrón is known as merengue, which is very close to the French and English word meringue. In Guatemala, merengue is a Caribbean style of dance music, which is very popular here. Every … Read more
As I have shared before, pupusas are better known in Guatemala as tortilla con chicharrón or tortilla con queso, et cetera. I called them Mayan pizzas. Pupusa is a name inherited from El Salvador for a dish which can be found throughout the Southeast Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and quite possibly all the countries … Read more
Indian food is the latest trend in Antigua Guatemala. There are at least five or maybe six restaurants of Indian food in Antigua Guatemala. Most of them are pretty expensive, but there is one that offers Indian food at Guatemalan prices. If I recall correctly, this plate of Indian rice with chicken and naan bread … Read more
I believe most people are familiar with cashew nuts, however, I am almost sure many people do not have the slightest idea about the fruit that produces the cashew nuts, the jocote de marañón. Well, here you have it, the jocote de marañón or cashew mombin or as Javier calls it, cashew apple and the … Read more
As I have mentioned before, Guatemalans love to charbroil a lot. From chupparrascos to parrilladas, there are all kinds of words and lexicon regarding asados, charbroiled meats. Another word used regarding the charbroiled chicken is Pollo a la brasa, such as the one shown here from Rincón Típico restaurant. A plate of pollo a la … Read more
Once again granadillas are in season in Guatemala. As I have mentioned before, granadillas (Passiflora ligularis) are often confused with Maracuya (Passiflora edulis) because they look similar, especially the yellow maracuyá (passion fruit). However they taste different, granadillas are sweet while maracuyá are more acidic. Granadillas, Passiflora ligularis, commonly known as the Sweet granadilla or … Read more
Slowly, many ambulant vendors are upgrading to delivering their wares on vehicles, from motor bicycle trucks to small pick up trucks as the one shown here. As we can see in the picture, right now is watermelon season in Guatemala, although I am sure you can get them year round as well as with bananas. … Read more
Jocón is basically a Guatemalan tomatillo-cilantro sauce; although we use the word miltomate instead. We also have another word for cilantro in Guatemala, do you know what it is? Because pepián steals all the attention, jocón does not receive as much press as it should. Basically, pepián is the brown Mayan curry, recado we call … Read more
Salpicón is a meat salad; that is right I said meat salad. It is made of minced beef, onion, tomato, mint, chile, salt and lemon or sour orange. Salpicón is just one of the meat salads one can find in Guatemala. By the way, this is my first try at preparing salpicón and since I … Read more
As I have mentioned before, panes con pollo or chicken sandwiches are the staple food of velaciones, vigils, along with batido, a drink made from tropical fruits and pinol. Panes con pollo are basically pirujo bread with lettuce, chicken, mayo, ketchup and salsa; one can ask for hot sauce or guacamol. Bon appetite!
Let’s go grab a licuado! Sweet. Refreshing. Natural. Licuados are one of those treats that truly define a Guatemalan experience. The blended fruit drinks can be found most anywhere in La Antigua from fancy restaurants to local, hole-in-the-wall comedors… and I absolutely LOVE them. They are nothing more than fruit blended with your choice of … Read more
Plataninas are green plantains chips. Plantains are like bananas, but much bigger and with a unique flavor. Guatemalans eat plantains or platanos as we call them here in many forms, such as plataninas, rellenitos (deep-fried stuffed platains balls), fritos (fried), atol de platano, chairbroiled and baked; just to name a few.
What we call in Guatemala, recardos, stews based on sauces, are really just Mayan curries, although some people do not like the comparison, that’s what recados are. Here are some of the Mayan curries you can find in Guatemala: pepián, subanik, pulique, hilachas, jocón, kak’ik, amarillo, gallo en chicha, tiras de panza, pollo en crema, … Read more
I don’t know who started the rumor that there’s a poor selection and quality of Guatemalan bread. I guess that if you really look, you can find an amazing variety of bread and high quality as well. In Antigua Guatemala we are so lucky to have a quite a few good panaderías [bakeries] such as … Read more
You’ve got to love Guatemala, this longaniza lunch with guacamol, chirmol, rice and freshly-made tortillas will set you back Q10/$1.25. Here are the questions for you. You can find the answers in the huge archives of AntiguaDailyPhoto in case you don’t know the responses by heart. Do you guys know the difference between Guatemalan chorizo … Read more