Ecuadorian Food

Coastal region
In the coastal region, there are many dishes based on sea food. The most typical ones are ceviches and rice with fried fish. Yes, rice is an important part of ecuadorian people in the coast, while in the highlands some grains like "chochos" and "mote" (white hominy) are very popular, along with potatoes and a similar thing called "melloco".

Common fish used for this are corvina, lenguado, dorado, and picudo. The fried fish is served with rice, lettuce, onion salsa, tomatoes, and patacones, which are pieces of green plantain that are friend, then squahed a bit, and then refried. Other typical dishes are ceviches, made with any kind of sea food; the "encebollado", which is similar to eviche, but is made only with fish, either picudo, albacora, or tuna, and it includes yam. It is good for hangovers. There are also cazuela. It is made with a green plantain preparation, and filled with sea food and prepared in some clay pots called cazuelas in spanish. It can be cooked or put in the oven. Bollos are good too. They are prepared with a mass of green plantains, peanut sauce, fish, and they are put in plantain leaves and cooked in vapour.

Moving to the center of the coastal region, there are some other dishes like the famous "seco". It's a kind of stew, prepared mostly with hen, chicken, or goat. It can also be prepared with lamb or beef. Seco is served with yellow rice, that is rice that has been cooked with achioti to give it that yellow color. It is served with fried rippened plantain.

Rice with Bean sacuce (or lentle sauce) and pork chops (arroz con menestra y chuleta) is the typical food from Guayaquil. It is also served with patacones, and instead of pork chops could be meat or chicken, even fried fish.

Another typical food, good for breakfast, is "bolón de verde". That's fried plantain that is smashed and combined with water and salt to form a mass. That mass is mixed with chicharrones (fried pieces of pork skin) and/or pieces of cheese. Then you form some balls with them, and serve them with coffee. You may serve them like that, or refried them a bit more, and then serve.

Balls
Talking about balls, there is a typical soup here, the name of which if translated directly into english would be "ball soup". It is a soup made with meat, peanut. The balls are made from a mass of boiled plantains, mixed with a raw plantain grounded. They are filled with meat, peanut sauce, raisin, and hard bloiled egg. Yummy!!

There is another soup, though, it has to deal with the bull's genitals. It's called caldo de tronquito. I've never tasted it, but it is made from the bull's penis, and it is said to be an aphrodisiac. Another soup is tripe soup (caldo de salchicha), made with the tripes of the pig filled with rice and blood. Also good for hangovers.

The highlands
It can be considered a sin if not eating ecuadorian highland foods when visiting the highlands. Going up to the mountains, the typical food is the pork. Some dishes are prepared with pork, like hornado, fritada, chugchucaras.

Yapingachos (or llapingachos) are delicious too. The best ones are in Ambato. It is two potato tortillas placed on a bed of lettuce, covered with peanut sauce, onion salsa, and two fried eggs, plus some fried sausage. Chugchucaras are typical from Latacunga and the north of Quito. It is a combination of some things like fritada, mote, toasted corn, boiled corn, popcorn, potatoes, rippened plantain, and a small empanada. In the southern highlands, in Cuenca, you can find the "motepillo", which is white hominy that has been cooked, and then fried with eggs.

A typical dish in regions like Baños, Ambato, Riobamba, Cuenca, and parts of Quito, is the roasted guinea pig. In many parts they are pets, but in this region, it is eaten. Depending on the size and the place where you buy it, a guinea pig might cost between 8 and 12 dollars. Served with boiled potatoes covered with peanut sauce. Delicious!

From Tmp, a Wikia wiki.

From Recipes Wiki, a Wikia wiki.