Guatemalan Pastries: Bocado de Reina
We Guatemalans are the best recyclers in the world. That’s what I was trying to convey a couple of weeks ago with …
Guatemalan Dessert: Ayote en Dulce
Ayote en dulce or ayote en miel is among the most popular desserts for Día de Todos los Santos (Feast of All …
Banana or Peach Dessert?
So, what would you like for postre (dessert) today? Here are two choices based on fruits very popular in Guatemala: Bananas and …
Guatemalan Desserts: Corbatas
Corbatas are fried flour-based crunchy dessert soaked in syrup or honey. Corbatas take their name from the shape they are cooked into. …
Guatemalan Dessert: Empanadas de Leche
Because today is a holiday in Guatemala (read the aside below), we are going to skip all the controversial stuff and just …
Guatemalan Dessert: Coco en Miel
Many Guatemalan desserts are prepared exactly as coco en miel. I believe we already covered the en miel preserves before in Guatemalan …
Name this Guatemalan Dessert And Win!
The first person that can name this Guatemalan dessert AND provide the recipe for its preparation through the comments will win a …
Guatemalan Dessert: Camote en miel
Camotes en miel could be translated as sweet potatoes in syrup or in preserves. Camotes en miel is also another popular dessert …
Guatemalan Cuisine: Rellenitos
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.
Traditional Guatemalan Christmas Food: Fried Plantains
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.
Traditional Guatemalan Mole
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!
The Buñuelos King of La Antigua Guatemala
This guy is the self-proclaimed King of the Buñuelos of La Antigua Guatemala. After making such claim, he turned towards the competition and asked, “Isn’t true that I am El Rey?” to which the other vendors just nodded. Last year on December 6th, 2006 there was a picture of his fair food stand.
Buñuelos Are Another Traditional Guatemalan Christmas Food
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.
Torrejas, Torrejas, Anyone?
Guatemalan torrejas is what happens when you mix a good sampling of Guatemalan sweet bread known as molletes; stuff it with manjar …
Fair Food
With the season’s celebrations comes the ever-present traditional fair food. Here we have a shot of Guatemalan mole and buñuelos in the …