Llapingachos: Ecuadorian Potato and Cheese Cakes
Potato-purée cakes stuffed with cheese, browned on a griddle and served with peanut sauce. They come from the Ecuadorian highlands and resemble neither a Spanish tortilla nor a rösti: here the potato becomes purée, coloured with annatto, and the cheese stays melted inside. The purée has to cool completely or it will not hold its shape.
Ingredients
- 1 kg floury potatoes
- 1 tbsp annatto oil (or sweet paprika)
- 1 spring onion, finely chopped
- 200 g young fresh cheese, crumbled
- Salt
- Oil for the griddle
- — For the peanut sauce —
- 150 g roasted unsalted peanuts
- 1 small onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 200 ml milk
- 1 tsp annatto
- Salt
- Fried egg and avocado, to serve
Method
- 1
Boil the potatoes in their skins, peel them hot and mash them. Do not use a food processor: the purée turns elastic and the cakes go rubbery.
- 2
Cook the spring onion in the annatto oil for a minute and mix it into the purée. Season.
- 3
Let the purée cool completely, about 30 minutes. Warm, it cannot be shaped: it sticks to your hands and the cakes split open on the griddle.
- 4
For the sauce: blend the peanuts with the onion, garlic, milk and annatto until smooth. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring, until thickened. Season.
- 5
Take a portion of purée the size of a golf ball, flatten it in your palm, put cheese in the middle and close it like a small pasty.
- 6
Flatten carefully into a disc about a centimetre and a half thick, sealing the edges well. If cheese shows, it escapes in the heat.
- 7
Heat a griddle or pan with a little oil and brown them 4 to 5 minutes a side over medium heat. Too hot burns the crust before the cheese melts.
- 8
Serve hot with the peanut sauce over them, a fried egg and avocado alongside.