The Caribbean · Volume 45, The Arepa Coast, the Hallaca and the Titoté
Mote de queso
Córdoba, Sucre and Bolívar, in Lent
Illustration
- Time
- 1 hour 30
- Researched
- Researched from 92 sources in the brief
Panorama Cultural traces it, through Hernando Gándara's book Mote de queso y Corozal, to the army of General Rafael Uribe Uribe in the War of a Thousand Days, 1899 to 1902, and to Corozal and Colosó; that is Gándara's account. The writer Ensuncho de la Barcena calls it "tetracontinental": African yam, Asian garlic, European cheese, Colombian seasoning. The Sinú makes it with bleo de chupa, the sabana with tomato, the San Jorge with aubergine and lemon or whey. The amounts are Asomujer's of 1997, as the Ministry of Culture prints them, for six to eight, with the yuca and the bleo from Leonor Espinosa's family recipe, her aunt la niña Eli's.
As tradition built it
Serves 6 to 8. About 1 hour 30 minutes.
Ingredients
The tradition's method, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them.
- 1kg ñame espino, the spiny yam, peeled and cut
- ñame criollo, the creole yam, peeled and cut
- 1 medium yuca, if the house uses it
- 250g queso costeño, in cubes
- 3 tbsp suero costeño
- 2 onions
- 2 cloves garlic
- 12 leaves bleo, where the region uses it
- as available aubergine, where the region uses it
- 2 large tomatoes, where the region uses it
- to taste salt
Method
- Cook the ñame espino, the spiny yam, in water with salt until it breaks down and thickens the pot.
- Add the ñame criollo, the creole yam, and the yuca and cook until they are tender but whole; they give the texture.
- Add the onion, the garlic and the region's vegetable, bleo, aubergine or tomato, and cook a few minutes.
- Stir in the queso costeño cubes and the suero costeño off the boil, and serve when the cheese has softened and the whey has sharpened the pot.
What a modern chef changes
The yam's starch, and the cheese's salt, measured
Rung 6
Method
- Cook the spiny yam in a pressure cooker 15 minutes and blend half of it smooth, for a pot that is thick and even.
- Brown the onion and garlic in a little pork fat before they go in; the Cartagena version adds cracklings and this is where they belong.
- Add the cheese cold and off the heat so it softens and does not string.
- Finish each bowl with a spoon of suero and a few drops of lime.