By Rodrigo Pacheco*
Ecuador
Millet tamal with spicy cherries and wild oregano
Ingredients
(Serves 4)
• 1 cup (150–200 g) millets
• 145 g cherries
• 2 spicy chilli peppers
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• salt, to taste
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano • 1 tbsp chopped red onion
• 1 tsp chopped ginger
• 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp of crème fraîche
• 4 arrowroot or other leaves (for tamal wrapper)
Preparation
Step 1
Cook millets in salted boiling water until they become soft. Then, add the chopped onion, ginger, oregano and olive oil to the cooked millets. Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.
Step 2
Take an arrowroot leaf or any leaf of your choice and use it to shape the mixture into small rectangular tamal shapes.
Step 3
Let them cool in the refrigerator, ensuring they are well-compressed and hold their shape
Step 4
Prepare the cherries by removing the seeds. Take half of the cherries and place them in a mortar along with the spicy chilli peppers. Add a pinch of salt, some olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Mix everything well in the mortar.
Step 5
To serve, add the spicy cherry mortar mix on top of each tamal. Decorate the dish with the remaining cherries and small oregano leaves. Add small dollops of crème fraîche as a finishing touch. Enjoy your millet tamal with spicy cherries and wild oregano.
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*Chef Rodrigo Pacheco bases his gastronomy on restoring and connecting ecosystems, knowledge and flavours. He attracted the world’s attention through his culinary art and his innovative project “The World’s Largest Biodiverse Edible Forest”. He is also president of the Bocavaldivia Foundation and serves as the Executive Chef of the Bocavaldivia restaurant in Puerto Cayo and the Foresta restaurant in Quito.
