Fanesca

Lihavõtted on Ecuadoris tähtis püha, terve nädal toimuvad erinevad pidustused ja tseremooniad. Sel nädalal ei sööda punast liha ning üks traditsiooniline roog, mille lõhn täidab kõiki restorane ja mida mõned pered siiani kodus valmistavad, on supp nimega Fanesca. Fanesca koosneb kõrvitsast, sambost, 12nest (12ne jüngri auks) oast ja teraviljast ja soolatud tursast. Kõik koostisained keedetakse piima ja juustu segus, kaunistuseks on küpsetatud banaanid, muna ning maitsetaimed. Fanecsa on seega rohkem nagu kaste ja seejuures ülimalt toitev.

Pärast Fanescat süüakse tavaliselt kartuliputru erinevate lisanditega ning magustoiduks on viigimari juustuga (väga magus!). Üldse armastavad kohalikud magustoite juustuga kombineerida, kakao juustuga on üks levinumaid, aga müüakse ka näiteks jäätist juustuga. Võrdlemisi veider, ent juust on siin teistsugune kui Euroopas. Kollase juustu asemel on neil valge juust, millel ei ole väga tugevat maitset. Midagi mozzarella ja kodujuustu vahepealset.

Kuna minu Ecuadori pere austab väga Fanesca traditsiooni, siis varuti koostisosad juba nädal ette, protsess algas 2 päeva varem. Kõigepealt tuli osad oad ära keeta ja kaunad/kestad ükshaaval eemaldada. Igal perel on Fanesca valmistamiseks oma retsept, minu peres kasutatakse 12ne oa/teravilja asemel seitset, ent ka seitsmega on supp ülimalt toitev. Kuna protsess on pikk ja vaevarikas, kutsuti kolmapäeval sugulased ja muud tuttavad appi. Vahepalaks sõime maisipirukaid juustu täidisega ning porgandikooki. Nämm! Mina jäin ühisest Fanesca söömisest küll ilma, kuna veetsin järgnevad neli päeva vihmametsas, ent esmaspäeval sain siiski maitsta ja oli üllatavalt maitsev. Üldse on siin peaaegu kõik road väga maitsvad, Maria Teresa sõnul seetõttu, et kokkab armastusega J

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Minu koorida oli mais :) / I had to prepare corn :) 

Pallid Fanesca kaunistamiseks/Dough balls for decorating Fanesca

Maria Teresa

Anita - Maria Teresa 'sekretär'/ Anita - the 'secretary' of Maria Teresa

Porgandikook/Carrot cake

Fanesca

Easter is a very important holiday in Ecuador, the whole week is filled with various celebrations and ceremonies. People don’t eat red meat during the holy week and a traditional dish is soup called Fanesca which is served in all the restaurants and some of the families still prepare it all together. Fanesca is made of pumpkin, sambo, 12 beans and grains (representing 12 apostles of Jesus) and salted cod. All of the ingredients are boiled in the mixture of milk and cheese and Fanesca is decorated with fried bananas, eggs and herbs. Thus Fanesca is more like a sauce and it’s very filling.

The second dish after Fanesca is usually mashed potatoes with side dishes after which comes fig with cheese (extremely sweet!). Combining desserts with cheese is rather common here, the most known is hot chocolate with cheese, but some places also sell ice-cream with cheese. A bit strange, but cheese is different from European cheese. It’s white and tastes like a mixture of mozzarella and cottage cheese.

My Ecuadorian family has a long tradition of making Fanesca, thus the ingredients were bought a week ahead and the cooking process started two days before. Some beans and grains had to be boiled and shells removed. Every family has it’s own Fanesca recipe, in my family they only use 7 beans/grains instead of 12, but the soup is nevertheless very filling. We had the whole family and some more helpers over at our house, since the process of making Fanesca is rather long and difficult. We ate some corn pies with cheese and carrot cake and continued working. Although I missed the family fanesca eating as I was at the rainforest for 4 days, I had a chance to try it on Monday and it was surprisingly delicious. I have to admit that almost all the dishes are tasty here, Maria Teresa says it’s because she cooks with love J

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