Chuchitos

One of the things that I love to do when I travel is learn how to cook some local foods. It makes sense given that I love to cook, and love to eat good food. Cooking the foods at home sometimes is even better because you get to regulate the quality of the ingredients.

When Jean was here we took a cooking class in Antigua, and learned to make one of my favorite Guatemalan foods--chuchitos. Chuchitos are basically like tamales filled with a vegetable sauce. The first step of any good cooking adventure is going to the market. I did my shopping in two trips, because I forgot a vital ingredient. It was okay with me, because it meant I got to go on a treasure-hunt through another of the beautiful fresh food markets this morning.
I started off by cooking the veggie sauce. Then I soaked the corn husks, and made little ties out of strips of corn. I made the dough, assembled them with all sorts of goodies, and steamed them in a pot. I filled half with beans and sauce, and the other half with peas and sauce. I put cheese in most of them, too.


I thought they looked really cool lined up in the pot to steam.

The end result was good. Eaten with sour cream and some extra sauce, they were tasty!

Perhaps most importantly of all, I learned 6 things that I am going to do better next time. I can't wait to have eaten all of these so I can start on the next batch already! :)