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 The province of Tungurahua is a small central region of Ecuador with the administrative center in Ambato, which is also called the "city of flowers and fruits". The Capital Festival of Flowers and Fruits, held annually in February in response to the devastating effects of the natural disaster, the 1949 earthquake, is one of the most colorful spectacles in the country, which, in addition to the cultural aspect, demonstrates the achievements of agriculture and the richness of regional cuisine.
The rural area of Tungurahua has vast areas where wheat, barley, oats, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, plums and apples are cultivated for domestic consumption. Since colonial times, the most famous cereal product is homemade ambato bread (pan de Ambato) - a gastronomic icon of the country. In the capital of the region, more than 200 bakeries produce buns, biscuits, bagels, pies and other bakery products, a feature of which is not only hand-kneading dough, but also adding lard to other ingredients, baking in a clay wood oven and using eucalyptus wood as fuel.
The second iconic element of regional cuisine is tortillas with chorizo (tortillas con chorizo), or Llapingacho, the name of which comes from the Kichua language and means "crushed". The original recipe for tortillas is attributed to the indigenous Indians of the Canton of Salasaka, who have long grown potatoes. Flatbread is baked from potato mass, including annatto, butter and eggs, and serve them on a wide platter with fried choriso and eggs, boiled and grated beets, slices of avocado and peanut sauce.
The rural Pinlho parish in the Ambato canton is famous for both its homemade bread and baked chicken (gallina asada)cooked whole in wood-fired ovens, along with skinned young potatoes cut into quarters. Before baking, chicken carcasses are marinated in a mixture of onions, garlic, oregano, green pepper, caraway seeds and annatto, and served with peanut sauce, salad and chicken broth with celery and carrots. Besides this, the dishes in Pinllo are typical soup with blood pork sausage, onions and herbs (caldo de morcilla) and fritada - pork stewed in water, orange juice and its own fat with spices.
Jaguarlocro Is a traditional dish on Thursdays and Sundays in the canton of Pilaro. From the Kichua language, jaguar is translated as blood, and lokro means potato soup. Jaguarlokro is a soup with mountain goat meat, entrails and blood, additional ingredients of which are potatoes, milk, lemon juice, peanuts, onions and garlic, tomatoes, avocados and spices. In the same municipality, they prepare a wonderful trout rivers Kulapachan - fried with garlic, smoked, grilled, in pies or in style maito (trucha en maito), that is, wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed.
The following drinks are typical for the province:
• shampoo (champu con mote) from corn, naranjilla, pineapple and bitter orange with brown sugar, cloves and cinnamon;
• colada morada made from purple cornmeal, fruits and berries, sweetened with cane sugar;
• freshly squeezed on hand mills cane juice (jugo de cana);
• grape chicha (chicha de uva) - fermented drink made from black grapes, water and sugar;
• Ambato chocolate (chocolate ambateno) - hot drink from 100% cocoa without sugar with milk, condensed milk, cinnamon and vanilla.
Elena
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