Ecuador 6

Some good old home cooking Ecuadorian style.

Asked Mami if we could eat some seafood.
She answered with Arroz con Pulpo: Rice sauteed with Octopus in its own ink with scallions and egg.

Came accompanied by a bowl of Beef Stew with Corn, a Tomato and Pepino (think cucumber crossed with melon) Salad, and a Passion Fruit Mousse for dessert.

Another day we had Stewed Hot Dogs over Rice with Sweet Plantains, and then Sugar Cane for dessert.

A SOLID breakfast, but perfect after a night of Aguardiente was Tigrillo; Green Plantains panfried with eggs, cheese and red onion.

And then there was the day of Rafa (my cousin's) birthday. Meat. Lots of meat. There were beef ribs, pork ribs, sausage and a beef tenderfloin about 3 1/2 feet long, all cooked over a charcoal grill. Not to mention Mote and Boiled Potatoes with homemade mayonnaise and homemade hotsauce for dipping.

And then, finally, today, there was crab. Sunday is a day for crab, because although it is delicious, it is a lot of work and takes a good hour of whacking to make a meal of. The crabs are an Ecuadorian species (of course) and are cooked in a big pot with sweet plantains, onion, garlic, cilantro and salt. Then it's just a matter of whacking and pulling out the meat. You don't gather the meat on the side or anything; you just eat it right away. It's salty, slightly sweet, flaky, and well, good. The coolest part? You take off the top of the shell and scrape all the fatty brains and stuff together, put in a couple of spoonfulls of tomato and red onion salad with lemon and chopped plantains.