Posibilidades Pinoleras

(Nicaraguan Possibilities)

Gallo pinto photo by
Aryana Azari

Careful readers of this blog know that its original intention -- and a goal we still pursue to some degree -- was to reduce the number of untried (indeed, unread) recipes filling the pages of our modest collection of cookbooks. Like most people who have cookbooks, many of ours had seen only one dish make it from the page to the table. With some favorites this might have happened a dozen times, perhaps with smudges of sauce adorning a single page of an otherwise pristine cookbook. So, this blog pushes us back to the shelves and into those unturned pages.

But this Matador Network blog post does just the opposite. In 10 traditional Nicaraguan foods the world should know about, photojournalist Aryana Azari draws us toward dishes for which the dozens of cookbooks on our shelves offer no guidance at all. Neither, in fact, does this post provide any actual guidance, as our posts linking to various online recipe sources do.

Rather, this post advises us of 10 dishes we should try when visiting Nicaragua, without providing recipes. I have tried only a few of these, including the ubiquitous gallo pinto and nacatamales prepared as a group activity. I have had indio viejo a few times at restaurants and have no idea how it is made. Most of the rest of these are variations I have not seen or dishes that might be very localized, because they do not look at all familiar. I am relieved, I must admit, to have avoided the tripe soup, though I have enjoyed some other soups that feature root vegetables that were not familiar to me before my Nicaragua travels, such as malanga.

Since recipes are not included, an ideal use of this article would be to carry it on a future visit to Nicaragua, to use as a sort of checklist. Completing the list would reward a traveler with opportunities to find places and people otherwise not encountered, as some of these dishes are quite localized.

For me, the flavor of this post is bittersweet -- sweet with the memories of friends, places, and foods -- but bitter for the separation resulting from the violence of its regime, about which I have written in detail on my main blog at #sosnicaragua.

Pinolillo / Pinolero 

Among the photos used in the Matador Network article is one from a user named pinolero. (Another is from a user named nicaraguitas, the significance of which is explained in my #sosnicaragua post.) Pinolero is a way of describing a person as very Nicaraguan. An awkward equivalent in the U.S. might be "apple-pie American" but I cannot think of anything more precisely parallel.

During our 2016 visit, my friend Doña Petrona -- who always hosts a few of my students and a big meal for my whole group -- provided us with a lesson in making this national drink.

All of the ingredients are grown locally and ground together.
Historically, this would be done on a stone metate,
in a process that adds mineral nutrients.

From grains of corn, nibs of cacao (chocolate), and some
spices emerge a powder that is stirred into hot water
for pinolillo.

Honorary pinolero, stirring the pot.

Painted Rooster

Gallo pinto -- the dish whose photo above I swiped from Azari for this post -- is not something a traveler will have to seek out. If you are in Nicaragua, it will find you. At virtually every meal -- breakfast, lunch, diner -- it will be available. Her photo includes two fruits of note: Bananas or plantains are served with most meals, and in a lunch buffet they will be offered in a few ways. Among the most common is madura, meaning ripe and baked. Also on the plate is an avocado, a fruit that grows quite comfortably alongside coffee.

I have written about the unusual name of gallo pinto -- which has a Rhode Island connection -- on my main blog at painted rooster. I mention a recipe that is on our cookbook shelves but that I apparently have never prepared, in part because I usually have plenty each January. Since I am now at my point of maximum separation from Nicaragua -- 16 months and counting -- I will make this soon, probably for breakfast.