Fritada de chancho – A treat from the Highlands of Ecuador

Fritada de chancho – A treat from the Highlands of Ecuador

Published on December 5, 2013 | In | By
0 Comments
    • Difficulty Level

Translated that means “Fry Pork”, but, as you will soon see…it isn’t fried at all. Hey, I didn’t name it, nor did I come up with it either. But it is really good otherwise I wouldn’t be passing it on now would I. Just try it – ya gotta trust me on this one.

I was in one of the stores here in Cotacachi and the lady there speaks great English and saw I was looking at the frozen meat she had. She said you should really try this and it was a package of meat with the name of this recipe on it. I said great I will, (next time I am going to buy a couple packs of it). It was nothing special pork wise. They don’t use nice tender cuts for this. It is like the left over bits that you would use for stew or something. So don’t be afraid to use cheap chunks of pork for this.

Fritada is one of these dishes that you will find in snack stalls and restaurants on the weekends, people in Ecuador usually leave the city and go to the small villages in the countryside or campo on the weekends and in each village there is always a restaurant that has fritada de chancho, you can either eat it at the restaurant or buy it to go.

Yes I did take that picture. What we had was the Fritada and to the left you can see a saute of Organic Snow Peas, Organic Carrots, with some Organic Cherry Tomatoes. In the back is a combination of Quinoa and Rice cooked in a homemade chicken stock.

Print

Recipe Rating

  • (5 /5)
  • 1 rating

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs of pork (1 lb of baby back pork ribs and 2 lbs of boneless ribs or loin or any combination of these, cut in medium size squares)
  • 1 tsp of cumin
  • 10 garlic gloves (5 whole and 5 minced)
  • 1 white onion (chopped in large pieces)
  • 1 shallot (chopped in large pieces)
  • 3 cups of water
  • 1 cup of orange juice
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Season the pork with the cumin, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Let it rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours if you have time.
  2. In a large wok or a sauté pan add the meat, the chopped onion and shallot, the whole garlic cloves and the 3 cups of water.
  3. Cook on medium heat until the water is almost gone
  4. Add the orange juice and let it reduce
  5. The meat will begin to brown, stir frequently to avoid burning, cook until all the pieces are evenly browned.
  6. Add the boiled yuca, mote or hominy and plantains to the same pan or you can also arrange the fritada and the sides on a large serving platter.
  7. Serve the fritada with, (if you want to make it completely true), the sides including the yuca, hominy, plantains, curtido (marinated onion lime cilantro tomato salad), avocado slices and aji criollo (hot sauce).

    I must tell you, the first time I made this I didn’t have an Orange for the second reduction. I used chicken stock for the first reduction and then finished with a a small amount of lemon that I had. It was good – made me want to make it again. I tell you this just to remember to use what you have and adjust as needed

Rate this recipe

  • 1 People Rated This Recipe

  • Average Rating

  • (5 / 5)
No comments yet.

Leave a Reply

About Chef