Ecuador is a beautiful country filled with delicious food and wonderful people. If you’re looking to learn more about it, check out my series on veganism in Ecuador which you can start here!
That being said, Ecuador isn’t exactly known for its vegan friendliness. Many of the traditional dishes are not vegan, and many of the people are not familiar with vegans, either. That being said, there’s no reason you can’t eat food that is vegan and Ecuadorian. After all, they grow some of the world’s greatest and most varied produce. Not to mention that after over a decade of being vegan myself, I’ve learned a few tricks to help you along the way.
The spices!!
The first thing you’re going to want a good handle on is the herbs and spices to use. And if you’re in the United States, most of them are pretty easily found in your regular grocery store.
Cumin– You’ve most likely used this if you’ve made chili before, and it is essential in Ecuadorian cooking!
Oregano–Nope, it’s not just for Italian food! Many places like to use the herb oregano in their cuisine, and Ecuadorians are no different. This is something you’re going to put in any Menestra (a broad term for a bean or legume stew), soups, or any savory dish, really.
Salt–same as nearly any other cuisine you’re used to, used the same way.
Pepper–For this one, we’re talking about ground black pepper. That being said, if you look at Ecuadorian recipes you may see something mentioned as pimiento de dulce. (Which translated means “sweet pepper”) This refers to allspice, which you can find either ground or in whole, dried berries.
Paprika–Fond of bell peppers, paprika is frequently used in many savory dishes in the Ecuadorian cuisine.
Achiote–in English, we refer to this as “annatto”, although it might be something you haven’t heard of. Achiote is made from brightly red colored seeds. And it is what makes yellow cheeses like cheddar and American cheese, yellow. You can find achiote powder (also called achiote molido), achiote oil, or paste. You can also buy the seeds on their own, as well. Achiote has a mild but earthy taste, and adding it to dishes gives them a yellow orange, or slightly reddish color. If you cannot find achiote in any form, my suggestion would to be to substitute for extra paprika.
Parsley and Cilantro–Parsley and cilantro together are often called “hierbitas” which just means herbs, and they are often used together in salads, soups, and menestras. You can use just one or the other, however if you want that authentic dish, often both will be listed.
Refrito
Now obviously there are more herbs and spices used in traditional Ecuadorian cooking, but those are the most common ones you’ll see. And once you know those and have them in your cupboard, the next thing you’ll want to know about is “refrito”. Refrito is any mix of spices, herbs, and produce that you sauté to make the flavor base of your dish. This is very important in any cuisine of course. But with the amount of soups and stews in Ecuadorian cuisine, it becomes even more vital.
Some produce you’ll use in your refrito commonly will be onions, garlic, bell peppers (both green and otherwise), green onions, peeled and seeded tomatoes and celery.
Making rice right!
Rice is probably the most important part of eating in Ecuador, and it’s not enough to “know how to make rice”. You have to know how to make it right. Ecuadorian rice is chewy, and it has flavor, unlike the rice that many people make in the United States.
To give you a quick overview of how to make rice “right”, here’s the deal. You want to make sure you’re not adding too much water. If you have a rice cooker, follow the instructions (rice cookers are great with precision rice making). If you’re used to making rice on the stovetop you may find that you want to use a bit less water than normal. The next thing is that you want your rice to have flavor, so make sure to salt it before you cook it, sort of like you would salt your water before boiling pasta. You can also add chopped onions for extra flavor.
Once your rice is just cooked, add in a small spoonful of oil—neutral oil like canola, or achiote oil for a beautiful orange color. Then from the you will mix it in and fluff your rice to serve. There are many recipes you can follow for a lovely Ecuadorian style rice, I know some suggest using butter instead of oil, which you can substitute vegan butter if you’d like. But the main things to remember are one, not too much water, and two, you want your rice to be flavorful!
New flavors
Since all sorts of produce is grown in Ecuador, there are a couple of flavors that you may not be familiar with that are used fairly frequently. One that I would especially recommend you look into is called tomate de árbol. In English, it’s called a wine tree tomato, although I wouldn’t suggest you search for it under that name, since you will have much more success finding it in places that will have it under the Spanish name.
Tomate de árbol is used both in sweet and savory things, and the flavor would best be described as tart, not sour. It is often made into a smoothie or juice, and is also used to make a hot sauce called ají de tomate de árbol. It is a very specific flavor, and one that once you’ve had, you will realize there really is no substitute for.
Another thing you will want to try, while we’re on the subject of hot sauce, is ajíes. They are a kind of hot pepper that are put whole in many soups or stews and then removed when cooking is done, much like a bay leaf. They are also blended up and put into hot sauces which are also called “ají”. Whichever way you use them (I highly recommend both), they add wonderful depth of flavor (and heat, if cut open or blended).
It is worth mentioning that they do taste different to other hot peppers you may be used to, such as jalapeños or serranos. I find that many people (in the United States, at least) are more familiar with hot peppers used in Mexican cuisine. Which are also delicious, but different. While you may be able to make a hot sauce with other hot peppers, it really won’t be an ají!
Replacements
Each cuisine has different nonvegan foods that you’ll want to find replacements for. And with Ecuadorian cuisine, you’re going to want to look out for a couple specific things.
First, a good vegan white cheese. Most of these will be mozzarella cheese replacements, and that’s alright. But what you want is something that is shredded and something that is whole. The shredded cheese, you will want it to stretch, like it would for a good pizza. And the whole cheese, you want to make sure it tastes good raw. For my shredded cheese, I have found great success with the Vevan cheese I have found sold at Costco, as well as Aldi’s plant based Mozzarella. And for the cheese that’s eaten raw as a side, I’ve really enjoyed the plant based baby bel cheeses.
Second, a vegan mince or meatless ground beef. This is also used to fill things, as well as cooked up as a side to eat with many dishes. I find you can use most vegan ground beef products to mimic ground beef (not incredibly common in Ecuadorian dishes) as well as salchicha or chorizo, which is essentially ground sausage, and is more common both in soups as well as to eat with French fries in a delicious street food called salchipapa.
Third, a chicken replacement. A big part of the animal based protein in the Ecuadorian diet is chicken, egg, or fish. Red meat is not very frequently eaten, which is a good thing for the health of the people. That being said, it is very common to serve a fried chicken breast or stewed chicken on the side of a meal. I have found some satisfaction with freezing and thawing tofu (as long as it is well-seasoned for the dish after the fact—most often I would advise marinating it in some way). However, there are other options. One I have been experimenting with is Daring Chicken (a plant based chicken product). It tears and shreds well, and has a realistic texture. However, it does come in quite small pieces. Please, if you have any suggestions, let me know in the comments.
Topping it all off
It’s hard to figure out how to master a cuisine and try and tie it up in a bow, since that’s a skill that takes a while to learn. But the soul of Ecuadorian cooking is natural ingredients, handled with care. I would recommend you to try to learn some Spanish so that you can learn about this beautiful cuisine on its own terms. But if that is outside of your purview, look for recipes from people who are from Ecuador or have at least visited.
If you have any tips for making Ecuadorian food vegan, let us know in the comments. And if you’re looking for another cuisine to discuss, tell us! I would love to do some more exploring!