South American Pumpkin Soup Recipe
Locro de Zapallo, Recovering Traditional Foods in Ecuadorian Cuisine
This healthy and light pumpkin soup variation of Ecuadorian locro is sure to be a hit with pumpkin lovers.
Ecuadorian cuisine is known for its varieties of soup. Lunch, the main meal of the day, starts with a bowl of home-cooked soup. It is not surprising, therefore, to note that locro, a potato-based soup from the Andean region, is a staple in many households, especially in the Sierra Region. As with any traditional dish, each household and restaurant has its own version of how it is made. Some variations include fried-blood locro (yaguarlocro), cheese and egg-based locro (locro de queso), pork-skin locro (locro de cuero), and this less common variety: pumpkin-based locro (locro de zapallo).
The classic orange jack o’ lantern pumpkin variety is not easy to find in Ecuador. Generally, zapallo, Spanish for pumpkin, is picked while still green on the outside. Within, however, the color is a deep, rich orange. Most of the pumpkins grown in Ecuador are allowed to get extremely large, and are cut into more manageable sizes for sale in the grocery stores and fresh markets. The meat on the inner walls is abundant, from 3-5 inches thick, and the seeds within, while just as delicious, are smaller and a bit rounder than their North American cousin’s.
Although pumpkin and squash originated from the Americas and are considered staples of Ecuadorian cooking, they virtually disappeared from the cuisine with the Spanish conquest. Considered an inferior food, something only the indigenous ate, few traditional recipes using pumpkin or squash were passed on through the generations. There has been an effort to recover some of the native crops of the region, pumpkin and squash included, but the reality is that, while one may see pumpkin dishes on the table in more traditional homes, the closer one gets to the large urban centers and cities, the less it is found.
One of the dishes that has survived from precolonial days, this variation of the popular locro dish, is definitely worth trying. Serve with warm garlic bread or toasted pumpkin seeds when the weather calls for a soup recipe to warm the soul!
Ingredients:
- 6 cups of beef stock
- 1 lb. fresh pumpkin, peeled and cubed
- 1-2 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
- ½ tsp. cumin
- 1 dash color (annatto oil) (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
Procedure:
- Make beef stock or use canned beef broth. Once the broth is cooked, add the raw pumpkin. Boil for 20-30 minutes, until the pumpkin is tender when pierced with a fork. (For those who are not big fans of chunks of pumpkin, the pumpkin can be cooked in the broth, in a pressure cooker, until it disintegrates and mixes into the soup.)
- Add salt and pepper to taste, as well as the annatto oil, if using.
- Add the quartered potatoes and simmer until the potatoes are also tender when pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes.
- Serve immediately. Makes 4-5 servings.
