The day started with a two hour bus ride to the nearby jungle town of Tena. Beautiful rolling hills tumbled over each other in a seeming effort to reach the clear waters of clear rivers and falls. Our mission was to buy Chontacuros, a necessary experience for all long-term volunteers at Sustainable Roots. Chontacuros are the larva of the weevil and they look exactly like one would imagine a rainforest larva to look like. About the size of my thumb, these pasty, butter colored insects captivate with their wriggling, muscular bodies and mandibles to match. In addition we were looking forward to the fabled Encebollado, a favorite of Toni’s. Encebollado is an oily soup that contains tuna, onions, yucca, maize and whatever toppings the diner chooses to add. Quite delicious if you are partial to copious amounts of onion and the strong flavor of fish. Upon reaching the steamy, sweaty town of Tena we struck out in groups to accomplish a handful of errands, aiming to reconvene at the small, open-air restaurant that made the Encebollado. After an hour of walking around the town, the sticky air had dampened every article of clothing I held on my body. We decided to head to the restaurant and wait for Toni and Kendra to join us. As soon as Toni laid eyes on us, she laughed and recited for us the lyrics of a Calle 13 song that says “...for you, I melt like a gringo in the tropics.” We waited for our orders while a Spanish dubbed Fast and Furious 1 played in the background. After Vin Diesel pulled some sweet motor acrobatics, steaming bowls of soup were placed in front of us and we happily dug in. I must say, Ecuadorians like their oil and salt. With the Encebollados in our bellies, we struck out for the local market to purchase our wriggling dinner guests Later that evening, I headed to Toni’s house with her to prepare the dinner. I had requested of her the job of killing the chicken we would cook. Eladio, Toni's husband, took me to the yard and we selected a hen that seemed the right weight to feed eight gringos and four Ecuadorians. Eladio’s trained eye picked out our girl and nonchalantly he picked her up and set her in my arms. We placed her in a bag and, as Eladio chuckled on the sidelines, Toni walked me through the steps of quickly ending the bird’s life. Once this had been done, we boiled a pot of water and dunked the body in. This loosened the feathers and made plucking quite an easy task. With the naked chicken now at our hands, Toni took me through the steps of gutting and prepping the bird for dinner. This was quite the experience, one of which I will keep the details to a minimum. Once the carcass had been cut into the appropriate pieces, Toni taught me to cook an Ecuadorian staple dish: Pollo al Jugo (chicken in juice). I have provided the recipe below for a simple and delicious meal. As the main course was cooking, we prepared our wonderful little alien grubs for the appetizer. The secret to Chontacuros is that they develop a poison once they have been dead for a small duration of time. To avoid tainting the meat, the larva must be cooked while still (somewhat) alive. It is quite a gruesome task to prepare the Chontacuros as one must slice into them and hurriedly wrap them in a large leaf and place them over the fire to steam. The end result being a juicy package of burst grubs, steamed in their own juices. Known for their bacon-like flavor and buttery, rubbery texture, these guys ‘pop’ with flavor. Naturally, a gringo challenge comes hand in hand with this dish. Wholeheartedly I embraced this challenge and ate one live, uncooked and wriggling. Truly a day of gastronomic experiment. Pollo al JugoIngredients (serves four)
-One medium onion -Four medium tomatoes -Three garlic cloves -Half a cup of cilantro -One tablespoon cumin -Half a tablespoon salt -Two chicken breasts -Three cups of rice Steps 1. Dice the tomatoes, onions and garlic. 2. Heat a pot, add oil, garlic and onion. 3. Cook the onions and garlic until soft and slightly browned. 4. Add the tomato, cilantro, cumin and salt. 5. Once the tomato has cooked and begun to dissolve, add a cup of water to the pot. 6. Cook this until boiling and sauce-like. 7. Add the chicken and cook until chicken is done through and the sauce is reduced. Serve hot with a side of rice and salad. Add lime and hot sauce for flavor.
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Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread.- Edward Abbey Archives
March 2020
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