Llapingachos

Ecuador's griddled potato cakes stuffed with cheese and coloured with achiote, served with peanut sauce, a fried egg and avocado

Origin: Ambato & the Ecuadorian Sierra

From the journey of Potato.

Llapingachos are potato cakes with cheese inside them, stained yellow-orange by achiote and griddled until a crust forms. They belong to the central sierra, to Ambato and the province of Tungurahua in particular, and they are served with a peanut sauce, a fried egg, a slice of avocado, a chorizo, and a beetroot-and-lettuce salad, which is a great deal of accompaniment for a potato cake and is exactly how it comes. The name is Quichua and the dish is old. Ecuador sits in the potato's homeland, and the highland provinces still grow hundreds of native varieties that never reach a supermarket anywhere; the ones used for llapingachos are floury yellow types that mash dry. That dryness is the technical requirement of the whole recipe: a wet mash will not hold a filling and will collapse on the griddle. The peanut sauce, salsa de maní, is the other half of the plate and is a proper Andean sauce rather than a Southeast Asian one: ground peanuts loosened with milk and stock, seasoned with onion, achiote, and cumin, poured over rather than dipped into. Peanuts are native to South America and were domesticated in the southern Andes and the Chaco, so the pairing is a great deal older than the Columbian exchange. Achiote, the seed of Bixa orellana, is used here for colour and for its faint peppery earthiness. It is steeped in hot oil and the seeds discarded, and the coloured oil is what goes into the mash and onto the griddle.

Ingredients

Cakes

1 kg floury potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 onion, very finely chopped
3 tbsp achiote oil
1.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp ground cumin

Filling

250 g fresh white cheese or mozzarella, grated

Peanut sauce

200 g roasted unsalted peanuts
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves
300 ml milk
200 ml chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp achiote oil
0.5 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt, or to taste

To serve

4 eggs
1 avocado, sliced
4 chorizo sausages

To cook

2 tbsp oil, for the griddle

Method

Boil the potatoes in salted water until completely tender, then drain them and return them to the dry pan over a low heat for two minutes to steam off.
Drying the potatoes in the pan is the step that makes the difference. A wet mash will split on the griddle and let the cheese out.
Soften the finely chopped onion in the achiote oil for eight minutes without colouring, then mash it into the potatoes with the salt and cumin.
Mash while hot and do not add any liquid. The mixture should be stiff enough to hold a shape in the hand.
Cool it completely, then refrigerate for an hour.
Divide into eight, flatten each piece in your palm, put a heaped spoonful of grated cheese in the middle, and close the mash around it.
Pat each into a disc about 2cm thick, sealing any cracks carefully, and chill again for twenty minutes.
Make the sauce: blend the peanuts, onion, garlic, and milk until smooth, then cook the achiote oil with the cumin for a minute and pour in the peanut mixture and the stock.
Simmer for ten minutes, stirring, until it thickens to a pouring sauce. It thickens further as it stands, so loosen with milk if needed.
Heat a griddle or heavy pan with a film of oil and cook the cakes over a medium heat for four to five minutes a side, until a deep golden crust has formed.
Turn them once only. Moving them about breaks the crust that is holding the cheese in.
Fry the eggs and the chorizo, and serve each plate with two llapingachos, the peanut sauce poured over, an egg, avocado, and salad.

Notes

Dry the boiled potato in the pan and add no milk or butter to the mash; a wet mash is the reason llapingachos fall apart. Chill the mixture before shaping and again after filling. Turn them once. Achiote oil is made by warming a tablespoon of seeds in 100ml of oil for two minutes and straining, and it keeps for weeks. The peanut sauce is poured over rather than served alongside, and it should be thick enough to coat and thin enough to run.

The Gastrographer

Name: Llapingachos
Prep time: 1 h 40 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Ambato & the Ecuadorian Sierra
Ingredients: 1 kg floury potatoes, peeled and quartered; 1 onion, very finely chopped; 3 tbsp achiote oil; 1.5 tsp salt; 0.5 tsp ground cumin; 250 g fresh white cheese or mozzarella, grated; 200 g roasted unsalted peanuts; 1 onion, chopped; 3 garlic cloves; 300 ml milk; 200 ml chicken or vegetable stock; 2 tbsp achiote oil; 0.5 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp salt, or to taste; 4 eggs; 1 avocado, sliced; 4 chorizo sausages; 2 tbsp oil, for the griddle

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control