Typical Food & Cuts of Meat (Spanish/English)

Typical Nica Food


Vigorón:

It is one of the most representative plates of Nicaragua’s culinary experience. Its ingredients are cooked yucca, cabbage, tomato, mimbro—a typical fruit, vinegar, chili, and chicharrón—made of pig. This exquisite plate—vigorón—is sold in other departments, but none of them are like Granada’s. People say that the difference lies in the chicharrón. The one Granada people make has pig meat attached to the chicharrón. This Granada uniqueness is combined with the yucca and the salad made of cabbage, tomato, mimbro which is an acid green fruit that contrasts the flavor. The vinegar used is preferably made of guinea, but vinegar from fruits, or white or black. Its name indicates that after eating this typical plate you will gain a lot of vigor. The best place to eat it is in the Central Park with cocoa or chilla and tamarindo juice.

Churros

Churros are typically strips of dough rolled then fried until they become crunchy, and then are sprinkled with sugar. Churros are generally prisms in shape, and may be straight, curled or spirally twisted but the ones in Nicaragua look like little rolled buns. The really good ones are still warm, crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

Churros are often sold by street vendors, who will fry them freshly on the street stand and sell them hot. In Spain, Mexico, and Argentina, they are available in cafes for breakfast, although they may be eaten throughout the day as a snack as evident in Nicaragua.

A little boy comes to our home and sells us five each day at 5:00 PM. The Nicas pay one cordoba each but as gringos, we pay two cordobas each.

Gallo-Pinto 

            Many countries maintain they are the creator of this typical dish in Latin America. However, there are different ways to prepare it. The Gallo Pinto is rice and beans mixed with different ingredients that vary their flavors. Onion, green chili and cilantro are among these components of the Gallo Pinto. Its preparation is relatively easy: first, in a large pan you fry the onion, and then, add the rice with mashed and whole beans. The mashed beans will give the rice a dark red color. Gallo Pinto can be accompanied with fried tortilla, cheese, cuajada—other cheese type—or fried banana.

Fritanga

            Fried chicken, meat, banana, and ripe banana along with salad are the main plate of these businesses called fritanga. The salad is very similar to the vigorón’s salad. It is made of cabbage, tomatoes, vinegar, salt, onion and chili. The frito is meat or fried chicken with many fried banana slices, salad basically made of cabbage. However, these places also sell papas rellenas (potatoes filled with salad), enchiladas (fried dough filled with rice), chancho adobado (pork filled with salad and rice), chop meat, fried beans, empanadas de maduro (ripe banana pie) and fried banana slides. Indeed, fritangas are not the best option if you are on a diet but they taste really good. Not bad for a sinful food once in a while. Furthermore, natural juices typically go with these fried foods. Moreover, fritangas usually are in the corners of many streets of Nicaragua but many of them are like restaurants with chairs, tables and other commodities to be used by the client.    

Vaho

            It is a typical plate a bit harder to cook but can be exquisite. The ingredients are diverse: meat, onion, maduro (ripe banana), garlic, onion, vinegar, sour orange and yucca. The preparation is really important because all these ingredients must go together but always each one must keep its flavor. This plate is prepared in really large pans and served in chagüite leaves.

Nacatamal

            Every Sunday morning the Nicaraguan breakfast is nacatamale with black coffee. Many families have adopted this ancient custom. It is dough made of corn that covers the other ingredients. Moreover, the delicious nacatamal includes pig loin but it might be done with chicken and beef or the three of them together. Furthermore, it includes lard, onion, garlic, tomato, potato, rice, chiltomas, banana leaves, congo chili, salt, water, raisins, olive, caper and achiote, which is a red condiment that colors the dough. The preparation is complex and takes from three to five hours but the result is worth it.

Quesillos

            The most famous quesillos are from León. However, they are eaten in all ofNicaragua. Granada is not an exception. There are various places in the cities where you can enjoy a hot tortilla covered with the quesillo, onion salad with black vinegar, sour cream and salt that combined are the riquísimo quesillo.

Pig with yucca (cerdo con yuca)

           Another typical plate from Nicaraguan culinary variety is pork with yucca. Similar to vigorón, it is roasted pig meat with cooked yucca and salad. The salad used is just like the salad used in the fritanga and vigorón, that is, cabbage, tomato, vinegar, salt and chili.

Tamal

            This typical plate is made of corn and wrapped up in chagüite or banana leaves. It has a green color and soft texture. It is a perfect snack for any occasion, if it is served with tortilla and dry cheese. Nevertheless, the tamal can also be combined with chicharrón and tortilla. As you can see, corn is the basis of a huge part in the Nicaraguan diet.

Pinol de Iguana (Iguana in dust)

            This plate is traditional of the Holy Week. The Iguana is a local animal that can be easily found in markets, especially on March and April because that is their fertile period. Iguanas are able to carry up to 48 eggs inside them, which are used in the preparation of this food. If you are pro-animal life, this plate is not for you. Before, iguanas were abundant but now they are scarcer because of human hunting. Now, the ugly part starts: the insides and eggs of the iguana must be taken out, the eggs are put back in, the wound must be patched. After this, the iguana must be toasted, so the skin detaches easily and wash it using sour orange juice.

            After taking out the eggs again, they must be boiled in water. Meanwhile, the iguana is boiled in water with onion, garlic, salt until it softens. Then, we just take the meat of the iguana. Then, the mashed corn is submerged in the soup that resulted from cooking the iguana. Next, we add the iguana meat and the cilantro. All this are mixed while cooking until reaching the cooking point when the sandy consistency of pinol disappears. This pinol de iguana is served hot. On the top of it, there are the eggs and a sauce made of green chili, onion and tomato.

Sopa de Queso (Cheese Soup)

            This plate is typical during Lent and Holy Week. Its ingredients are corn, cheese, eggs, salt, oil, onion, garlic, sweet chili, sour orange juice and achiote, the red condiment. First, the two pounds of corn dough are mixed with dry ground cheese and four eggs, achiote and water. This combination acquires the right consistency to make pies or rosquillas—similar to donuts. Then, we fry the pies or rosquillas. After that, part of the mass is cooked with onion, garlic, sweet chili until it dissolves. Afterwards, we can add butter or natilla—cream—and sour orange juice. When the soup is hot, we add the rosquillas or pie. While the soup is boiling, we add two eggs until they are cooked. Moreover, the soup is served with banana.

Elotes (Corn)

           The boiled elotes are other typical plate from Nicaragua. They are sold in the streets by women in carretones or in the Municipal market. Most Nicaraguans eat the white corn, not the yellow one. This recipe is very simple: the elotes or corn simply are put to cook and done!
            The roasted elote is simply the corn undressed of the tuza(husk surrounding the corn) cooked in a grill. This typical and unknown dish is sold in different corners of the entire country. Most importantly, it tastes really good because it keeps the natural flavor of the corn.

Yoltamal

            This typical plate also is a mass made with corn and it is wrapped up in the tuza (the husk surrounding the dry corn. Yoltamales are eaten alone or with dry cheese or cuajada.

Pebre (Pig Head)

            When Nicaraguans kill a pig, they make sure that nothing is wasted. Pebre is the mix of different pig parts cooked. The Pebre basically is the liver, ears, tongue, face meat, skin and feet of the pig, onion, garlic and achiote. All these ingredients are cooked together. The soup can be mixed with hot rice. This plate is served with cooked banana or corn tortilla. It may not sound good but you got to taste it first.

Mondongo soup (sopa de mondongo)

            The mondongo is very popular among Nicaraguans. It is the stomach of the cattle. The best mondongo is found in Masatepe, Masaya. This soup has an orange color due to the stomach of the pig. Its ingredients include yucca, quequisque, chayote, chiltoma, corn, rice, salt, mint, bicarbonate of soda, chilotes, onion, banana, sour oranges, garlic, lemon, cabbage and achiote. Moreover, the soup is served with avocado and cheese. Furthermore, it can also be accompanied by a salad made of cabbage, tomato, sweet chili, lemon, vinegar, onion, salt, pepper and chili.

Güirilia

            The güirila is some sort of tortilla but it is made of soft corn. As many other typical plates made of corn, the güirila is found in markets, parks and corners of every city ofNicaragua. Its preparation is not that complex but cooks must be very careful due to the soft corn. This delicious tortilla is made in a comal or a grill; nevertheless, it must be surrounded by chagüite—banana—leaves. When they are prepared, you can eat them with dry cheese or cuajada or ahumado cheese.

Indio Viejo (Old Indian)

            This is a very typical plate not just for its taste but for the story behind it. Its name, Old Indian (Indio Viejo), starts in colonial times. Once a group of Indians had prepared this recipe and were ready to eat it when a group of Spaniards approached them. The curious conquerors asked the clever Indians what had they just prepared and if they could eat also. So one of the Indians replied: We have just prepared an Old Indian that recently died. Of course, the Spaniards would not engage in such a cannibalistic meal and left alone the witty Indians. From that point forward, this plate is called Indio Viejo.
            Moreover, Spaniards believe the Indians’ claim because the food looked like an old mass with a brown-orange color. The ingredients that form this exquisite plate of Nicaragua are cesina (fat piece of cattle meat), onion, chiltoma (sweet chili), garlic, salt, mass—for tortillas--, pepper, tortillas from the day just passed, sour orange, hierbabuena, oil or pig fat. All of them combine to create an exquisite meal.

Almibar or Curvasa

            This is a typical plate during Holy Week. Different fruits are sweetened through diverse processes that will add sugar to your life. The secret ingredient is rapadura sweet, which is a hard and extremely sugary block, easily found in markets. However, the hands of Nicaraguan cookers enhance the flavor of this deserve. Also, the curvasa is mostly made of papaya, jocote, mango, grosellas (currant), and maranones. Furthermore, a bit of cinnamon will give an extra flavor. Each one of theses fruits must keep its own flavor. The cooking period is approximately two hours. However, it is worth the wait.

Caballo Bayo (Bayo Horse)

            This food is served in clay plates covered by tortilla and is composed of different typical food. Some of the food that forms the caballo bayo include: mashed beans, chop chicken meat, chopped meat, moronga (rice, pig blood and skin), sausage, guacamole (avocado, cooked egg), pico de gallo salad (onion, cilantro, tomato with salt and lemon), sour cream, cheese, chicharron, among other typical Nicaraguan plates.

Sopa Borracha (Drunken Soup)

            During Christmas, Nicaraguans enjoy a plate a bit different for its name. The Drunken Soup is not soup but porous bread soaked in a special liquid made of liquor. The drunken soup is good with coffee but it is soft because the liquid has penetrated in the pores. The special bread is called marquesote. The liquid includes cinnamon, liquor, sugar, water. It tastes good and it is an excellent dessert after the Christmas Dinner.

Buñuelos

            Nicaraguans are definitely full of diverse desserts. You must taste each of them because they have unique flavors. Bunuelo is made of corn mass and is fried in oil. It is accompanied by a sweet liquid basically made of sugar. The buñuelos are easily found in the streets, markets or restaurants. They are very popular among Nicaraguans.

Hojuelas

            This dessert is made of flour and sugar then is fried and covered with honey. It can be found at street vendors and markets. They taste really good, even to the most exquisite palate.

Enchiladas

            Fritangas’ menu is wide and includes different fried plates. One of them is enchilada. This plate contains Congo chili inside, so be careful because you can get “nchilada”. This plate is simply rice with chopped meat, egg, Congo chili wrapped up in a corn tortilla. One is enough for a meal and it has the shape of a woman’s wallet.  

Albondigas Mondongo soup (sopa de albóndigas)

            Meat balls inside the soup: this is albóndigas soup. Sometimes, cookers use hen meat but the concept remains the same. It has an orange coloration thanks to the achiote, which is a typical condiment in Nicaraguan cuisine.

Donuts Soup (Sopa de Rosquillas)

            Another soup from Nicaraguan cuisine is made of corn donuts that are submerged in delicious soup. This plate is found in every market or dinner. Nicaraguans preferred this soup during lent because it is not made with meat.

Bone Soup (sopa de hueso)

            Nicaraguans idiosyncrasy has created rare but healthly plates. Nicaraguans used some bones from the cow to prepare an exquisite soup that will not leave a single space in your stomach at any meal. The bones generally have a bit of meat attached to them; precisely, this meat flavors this bone soup.

Fish Soup (Sopa de Pescado)

            Whenever you feel you have reached your mental limits, you better drink fish soup. This plate can have different colorations depending on the condiments used to prepare them. Generally, it is yellow and it is great to enhance the brain’s abilities. To make it more powerful, Nicaraguans also add crabs and seafood. The fish soup is easily found in markets and restaurants.

Rosquillas (Donuts)

       If you want to taste a great snack in the afternoon or a different breakfast, rosquillas are your best choice. This typical food is made of corn and is toasted in an old oven. They taste really good with black coffee in the morning or alone in the afternoon. The best rosquillas are made in Somoto. If you have the chance, go taste them.

Turtle (Tortuga)

            During Lent, Nicaraguans avoid red meats to fulfill the religious precept of abstinence and fasting. Thus, turtle meat is a good replacement for Fridays’ meals. Unfortunately, turtles are disappearing but the black market offers turtle eggs. As its name indicates, turtle soup or stew is made of turtle meat and eggs. It has an green color and a thick consistency.    

Pinolillo

       Many Nicaraguans cannot live without drinking pinolillo. It is made of toasted corn flour with cacao (cocoa). Its consistency is sandy and thick with a dark brown color. This drink is easily found in corners, markets, central parks and other business establishments throughout the whole country.

Cuts of Meat Spanish - English

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