Another country of my favorit continent is part of my challenge: Chile! And it is really one of the countries I wished for to cook with. So I´m very lucky that Jazmín from Chile liked the idea of my project so much that she decided to cook with me. Actually, Jazmín read about my challenge on couchsurfing.org. We wrote a lot of messages via facebook before she started her travel through Germany and finally came to Berlin.
I really have to say that Jazmín was one of my most diligent cooking guests this year. She made so many suggestions of what we could cook together that it was quite hard to decide. Some of the dishes we couldn´t make because of special Chilean ingredients which are hard to find in Germany. Others we didn´t choose because they were too difficult to make and I want to keep the recipes easy enough for everyone.
At the end we choose a typical Chilean dish named Charquicán and I can say – it was a very good choice! We also made Mote con huesillo which is a traditional Chilean summer-time drink made from wheat and peaches. Actually it´s more a snack or dessert then a drink and I really enjoyed it. Jazmín told me that you can buy it like everywhere in Chile in summer.
But back to our main dish – Charquicán! Usually you make this delicious stew with meat and eggs but our Charquicán – of course – was vegan (we used fake meat though).
Charquicán
- 1 cup of fake (minced) meat (we used smoked tofu)
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 250 g butternut squash, peeled and diced
- 6 large potatoes, peeled and diced
- optional: 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- optional: some large leaves chard, chopped
- optional: corn
- salt & pepper
Heat some olive oil in a pot. Add the onions and let fry for about 1 minute. Add the fake meat, garlic, oregano, salt and/or soy sauce and stir fry for about 5 minutes.
Then add the potatoes and the pumpkin cubes (and chard). Cover everything with water. Wait until the potatoes are done.
If you added too much water, drain it. Otherwise you just mash everything a bit. Season with salt & pepper.
¡Buen provecho!
