Ecuador

Group E - ECUADOR

What is it?

Bolon de verde, with a fried egg, hot sauce, and avocado slices.

How was it?

The bolon de verde were plantain dumplings with cheese in them. The plantain were fried until soft,  then mashed with some paprika and chili powder and formed into balls (bolones) with cheese**. These were then fried again until the outside of the balls were brown and crispy. They tasted like a nutty hash brown, and were quite dry. They worked well with egg and avocado which provided moisture to the dish. Some hot sauce (not pictured) helped add even more, and contrasted nicely with the coolness of the avocado and yolk.


*they didn’t go particular soft unfortunately. I probably should have used riper plantain.

**due to the mash being rather crumbly I had to mix the cheese into the plantain mixture, rather than enclosing the cheese within the centre of the ball.

Overall thoughts:

This was a meal that was not too complex on the plate, yet managed to do plenty of different things and do them well. The contrasts between taste and texture were, as ever, very pleasing to me. The main drawback with this dish was how long it took to prepare the dumplings, whose cooking seemingly had a small margin for error. These could be prepared the night previously, but that is a level of hassle that most breakfasts don’t share.

If it was an Ecuadorian footballer?

Versatile and skilled, but with a dark side, we’re looking at Antonio Valencia.