Food....
So I think I will take this opprotunity to let you all know about the crazy food that I have been eating here. First of all, lots and lots of beans and rice. Gallo pinto is black beans mixed in with rice, but you can also have beans and rice cooked separate. Then there are tortillas...very good simple tortillas. Those three things are staples for lunch everyday. The meats vary...chicken or beef in various forms, sometimes pork. I don´t eat the more exotic choices: pigs head stew, chicarron (pigs skin, fried), mondongo (intestines), chicken liver etc. But the BEST part about eating here is all the fruit that is available. Nicaraguans don´t really eat fruit plain, they mash it up and make delicious juices. Beatriz makes juice every morning...and when I say make juice I mean fresh squeezed and all that jazz...no frozen mixes here. So here are the fruits that are new to me.
Calala - I have no idea what it would be called in English, it looks like a sad misshaped lemon. You break it open and inside are lots of little seeds and juice. For this fruit you just drink all the insides...very good. It tastes a little tart.
Mamon - These are the size of big grapes, but have a green shell. You break the shell in half and then suck the insides out. It has a big seed in the middle, so you have to take the fruit off in your mouth. Every time I eat them I think about that game where you try to tie the stem of a cherry in a knot in your mouth. It´s difficult...eating this fruit is a bit more challenging. The Nicaraguans can all do it without trouble...I have to use my hands sometimes.
Zapote - This has the skin of a kiwi, but its about the size of an apple. On the inside the fruit red and pretty soft, you eat it with a spoon. Delicious.
Hocotes - They are also about the size of grapes, but more oval. They taste like a mix between mangos and papaya.
And then there are the staples mangos and pineapple. People here eat fruit with salt...and sometimes chilis! You can buy mangos off the street and they put the salt and chili on for you. Of course its not recommended to buy stuff off the street because it´s not particularly hygenic.
On Sundays we buy a liter of Coke, its very exciting. Sugar and caffiene all in one.
That about sums it up for the food here...go look for some Calala!
Calala - I have no idea what it would be called in English, it looks like a sad misshaped lemon. You break it open and inside are lots of little seeds and juice. For this fruit you just drink all the insides...very good. It tastes a little tart.
Mamon - These are the size of big grapes, but have a green shell. You break the shell in half and then suck the insides out. It has a big seed in the middle, so you have to take the fruit off in your mouth. Every time I eat them I think about that game where you try to tie the stem of a cherry in a knot in your mouth. It´s difficult...eating this fruit is a bit more challenging. The Nicaraguans can all do it without trouble...I have to use my hands sometimes.
Zapote - This has the skin of a kiwi, but its about the size of an apple. On the inside the fruit red and pretty soft, you eat it with a spoon. Delicious.
Hocotes - They are also about the size of grapes, but more oval. They taste like a mix between mangos and papaya.
And then there are the staples mangos and pineapple. People here eat fruit with salt...and sometimes chilis! You can buy mangos off the street and they put the salt and chili on for you. Of course its not recommended to buy stuff off the street because it´s not particularly hygenic.
On Sundays we buy a liter of Coke, its very exciting. Sugar and caffiene all in one.
That about sums it up for the food here...go look for some Calala!
posted by Jessie at 11:26 AM
3 Comments:
please post your most highly recommended torilla recipe.
dreaming of mangos, salsa and tortillas from the land of blackbeanless rice...
chicharrones are pretty damn good, i ate a ton of them one day till i found out what they were and then i still ate a few more.
Calala is also known as Maracuya and is part of the Passiflora Ligularis family (passion fruit);-)
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