December 8, 2008: Locro

For the final calendar meal of the year, the World in Your Kitchen Calendar served up Locro, an Ecuadorian pumpkin stew. Like most of the dishes from the calendar (with one or two exceptions), it was pleasant and filling without being something interesting enough for us to bother making again. I used fresh corn and peas, but it was probably an unnecessary effort - they were kind of buried in the stewy mush, so their freshness didn't stand out at all. The main flavour is the sweet pumpkin, and with some cheese on top and a fresh salad on the side, this was a reasonable end to a year of international recipe adventures.

Locro - pumpkin stew

1 cup sweetcorn
450g pumpkin, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup peas
4 potatoes, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
200g cheese, grated
1 teaspoon nutmeg
oil
salt and pepper

Boil the pumpkin for 10-15 minutes, until soft. Drain and mash into a thick paste.

Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion over low heat for five minutes. Add the garlic and fry for another minute or so, stirring.

Add the tomato paste and potatoes, along with enough water to submerge the spuds (about 1.5 cups in our pot). Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Add the corn, pumpkin and peas and stir everything together. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle the grated cheese and nutmeg on top and serve with a salad.