• Capital: Quito
• Population: about 16.2 million
• Area: 283 560 km²
• Currency: United States dollar

For my Ecuadorian food I made llaginpanchos, these are stuffed potato patties. I made them with some delicious sauces and a tomato onion salad. For the sauce I made salsa de mani which is a sauce made with peanuts. I also made aji criollo which is a spicy sauce with cilantro. Here are the recipes!

Llaginpanchos

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds russet potatoes
• 1/2 white onion
• 2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Fill a large pot with cold water, add the potatoes and boil them until soft. Once the potatoes are soft, drain the water and let the potatoes cool.

While the potatoes are cooling, finely chop the onion. In a pan heat some oil, add the onion and the chili powder and cook until the onions are translucent.

Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them and mash them in a bowl. Add the onion mixture and salt to taste. Cover the bowl and let the potatoes sit for an hour at room temperature.

After an hour, roll the potato mixture into balls about the size of 1/3 cup. Make a hole in the middle of each ball and stuff them with mozzarella cheese. Close the balls over the cheese and pat down to make thick patties.

Let the patties rest in the fridge for an hour.

In a hot pan or a cookie sheet spreading over 2 gas burners, heat some oil and cook the patties until hot and browned on each side.

Serve with salsa de mani, aji criollo and the tomato and onion salad. All recipes follow.

Salsa de mani, tomato onion salad, aji criollo

Ingredients:

Salsa de mani:

• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro
• 1/4 white onion
• 1/2 jalapeno

Tomato and onion salad:

• 1 red onion
• 2 limes
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• Cilantro

Aji criollo:

• 3 jalapeños
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 lime
• 1/4 white onion

Directions:

First, prepare all the ingredients. Chop the white onion and the cilantro, finely slice the red onion, press the limes, remove the seeds from the jalapeños and finely chop 1/2 jalapeños and keep the rest whole. Thinly slice the tomatoes.

Start with the tomato and onion salad. In a large bowl, put the red onion and salt. Mix and let sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, add lukewarm water and let sit for an additional 10 minutes.

Drain and rinse the onions, put them back in the bowl and add the lime juice. Let sit for 30 minutes.

When ready to serve add the tomatoes, cilantro, olive oil  and salt to taste.

Now prepare the salsa de mani. In a saucepan heat a little bit of olive oil, add the 1/4 onion (just keep a little bit of it on the side), cumin, chili powder and some salt. Cook the onions until translucent.

In a bowl, mix the peanut butter and the milk. Once combined, add the peanut butter mixture to the onions and stir. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, add the chopped cilantro, the half jalapeño finely chopped and the rest of the 1/4 onion. Serve warm.

Finish by making the aji criollo. In a blender put  the cilantro, garlic, jalapeños, about 1/4 cup of water and the juice of 1/2 a lime . Blend for 1 minute. Add 1/4 white onion finely chopped and serve.

Serve all 3 sides in separate bowls along with the llaginpanchos!!

Buen provecho!