Honduras food

Honduran cuisine is a fusion of indigenous (Lenca) cuisine, Spanish cuisine, Caribbean cuisine and African cuisine. There are also dishes from the Garifuna people. Coconut and coconut milk are featured in both sweet and savory dishes. Regional specialties include fried fish, tamales, carne asada and baleadas. Other popular dishes include: meat roasted with chismol and carne asada, chicken with rice and corn, and fried fish with pickled onions and jalapeños. In the coastal areas and in the Bay Islands, seafood and some meats are prepared in many ways, some of which include coconut milk.

Among the soups the Hondurans enjoy are bean soup, mondongo soup (tripe soup), seafood soups and beef soups. Generally all of these soups are mixed with plantains, yuca, and cabbage, and served with corn tortillas.

Other typical dishes are the montucas or corn tamale, stuffed tortillas, and tamales wrapped in plantain leaves. Also part of Honduran typical dishes is an abundant selection of tropical fruits such as papaya, pineapple, plum, sapote, passion fruit and bananas which are prepared in many ways while they are still green.

Soft drinks are often drunk with dinner or lunch.

Contents

    1 Breakfast

    2 Sopa de caracol

    3 Sopa de Frijoles

4 Carneada

    5 Rice and beans

    6 Fried yojoa fish

    7 Baleada

    8 Corn tortillas

    9 See also

    10 References

Breakfast

Honduran Breakfast, Baleadas and Pastelitos filled with chicken.

Hondurans usually have a large, hearty breakfast. It typically consists of fried eggs (whole or scrambled), refried beans, Honduran salty sour cream (mantequilla), hard olancho cheese, avocado, sweet fried plantains, and tortillas. It is common for most households to first prepare tortillas, a staple for nearly every dish, which are used throughout the rest of the day.

Other breakfast favorites include carne asada (roasted meat) and Honduran spicy sausages (chorizo). Like many other places throughout the world, a good breakfast will be accompanied with hot, dark—in this case Honduran-grown—coffee. Honduran coffee is renowned for its delicate qualities, being grown on the slopes of the Honduran mountains over rich soils of volcanic origin. A specific brand famous for its flavour comes from the Honduran region of Marcala, others being the Copán coffee and the one grown in Ocotepeque.[citation needed]

Street vendors often sell breakfast baleadas made of the flour tortillas, toppings such as eggs, meat, and even pickled onions, and small tamales made of sweet yellow corn dough, called tamalitos de Elote, eaten with sour cream; fresh Horchata and posole is also common.

Sopa de caracol

Sopa de caracol (conch soup) is one of the most representative dishes of the Honduran cuisine. This soup was made famous throughout Latin America because of a catchy song from Banda Blanca called "Sopa de Caracol." The conch is cooked in coconut milk and the conch's broth, with spices, yuca (cassava), cilantro, and green bananas known as guineoverde. Other varieties including crab, fish or shrimp are known as SopaMarinera.

Sopa de Frijoles

A red bean soup is eaten in every household of Honduras. For the preparation of this soup, red beans are soaked in water until soft and then boiled along green bell peppers, salt, pork rib and onions. When the beans are soft, the broth has a chocolate color and a tasty flavor.

Yucca is added, as well as green plantains and coriander. Before serving, when the soup is still boiling in the plate, a raw egg is added sometimes on top. Other sides include deep fried pork belly fat (chicharrones), smoked dry cheese, sour cream and the ever present tortillas.

Carneada

Carneada is considered one of Honduras' national dishes, known as Plato Típico when served in Honduran restaurants. While it is a type of dish, a Carneada or Carne Asada, like its Mexican counterpart, is usually more of a social event with drinks and music centered around a feast of barbecued meat. The cuts of beef are usually marinated in sour orange juice, salt, pepper and spices, and then grilled.

The meat is usually accompanied by chismol salsa (made of chopped tomatoes, onion and cilantro with lemon and spices), roasted plátanos (sweet plantains), spicy chorizos, olanchano cheese, tortillas,and refried mashed beans.

Rice and beans

Rice and beans is a popular side dish in the Honduran Caribbean coast. The dish is typically cooked in coconut milk with cilantro and spices.

Fried yojoa fish

Fried Yojoa Fish from Lake Yojoa

A famous dish throughout Honduras, which is found in the Yojoa Lake. The fish is spiced and salted and later deep fried. It is served with pickled onions, pickled red cabbage, and deep fried tajaditas (sliced plantains).

Baleada

An open homemade baleada with eggs, butter, cheese and beans

The baleada is one of the most common street foods in Honduras. The basic style is made of a flour tortilla which is folded and filled with refried beans, quesillo or cheese and sour cream. Many people add roasted meat, avocado, plantains or scrambled eggs as well. There are Honduran Fast-food chains that serve different kinds of Baleadas.

Corn tortillas

An Anafre, melted Honduran stringy cheese "quesillo" in a clay pot, with Choro mushrooms and spicy Chorizo sausage. Tortilla chips for dipping. La Esperanza-Intibucá, Honduras.

Corn, or maíz, is a staple in Honduran cuisine. Eating corn comes to Hondurans as an inheritance of their Maya-Lenca ancestors; the Maya believed corn to be sacred, and that the father gods created men from it.

Some tortilla based dishes include: Tacos Fritos: Tortillas are filled in with ground meat or chicken and rolled into a flute. The rolled tacos are then deep fried and served with raw cabbage, hot tomato sauce, cheese and sour cream as toppings.

Catrachitas: A common simple snack made of deep fried tortilla chips covered with mashed refried beans, cheese and hot sauce. A variant of this snack are de Chilindrinas, deep fried tortilla strips with hot tomato sauce and cheese. It is common in Honduran restaurants to serve an Anafre, a clay pot with melting cheese or sour cream, mashed beans and sometimes chopped chorizo (Honduran sausage) heated on top of a clay container with burning charcoal, and tortilla fried chips to dip in. Similar to Swiss fondue.

Enchiladas: The whole Tortilla is deep fried and served with a variety of toppings. First ground pork meat is placed, next raw chopped cabbage or lettuce, then hot tomato sauce, and a slice of boiled egg.

Chilaquiles: Tortillas are covered in egg and deep fried. Afterwards placed in a wide container to form a layer of tortilla as a base. Cheese, cooked chicken and hot tomato sauce with spices is then added. Again place another layer of tortillas and continue to do so to make something like a Tortilla Lasagna. Place in the oven and let cook until cheese melts and the tortillas are soft. Servedwiththick sour cream.

Tortilla con Quesillo: Two tortillas with quesillo, a melted cheese, in between and then pan fried; served with a tomato sauce. Mashed beans are sometimes also added as a filling with the cheese.

Honduras Food

Honduras Food

Honduras has many tasty traditional meals to choose from; however, the country is well known for the typical Honduras food served daily, a routine that ALWAYS include beans, rice, and tortillas.

Most Hondurans get up in the morning and have a “baliada also spelled “baleada” which consists of a large flour tortilla with re-fried beans and cream that resembles “sour cream”, but has its own distinct flavor. Those who can afford it may add various ingredients to their baliada, including veggies, avocado and / or ground beef. The average cost of this nutritious start of the day is only 10.00 lempiras. Less than 50 cents in the U.S.A.!

Baleada

Baleada

In Honduras, a “pastelito” for lunch is in order. Pastelitos consist of a flour or corn tortilla filled with either beef or chicken, as well as potatoes and various spices. They are folded in half and then deep fried. A typical price for a pastelito is also 10.00 lempiras; although most Hondurans will eat at least two, making for a total cost of 20.00 lempiras, or approximately $1 US dollar. The middle and upper class of Honduras tends to go home, or out to a fast food restaurant for lunch.

Basically, the middle aged generation goes home, and the younger generation loves to go to the nearby mall.  The Honduras food courts feature many International food chain restaurants, as well as typical Honduran food, where a meal can be anywhere from 100.00 lempiras ($5.00) to 300.00 lempiras ($15.00).  Lunch for many in Honduras is their “big meal of the day”.  After lunch, a SIESTA is in order.  The vast majority of the country’s businesses which employ the older generations, accommodate these traditional routines.  Administrative businesses, as well as many retail operations (in particular hardware stores) close between 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm.

Dinner time for laborers may consist of some type of meat, such as chicken, pork, or beef. There is always rice, and in many cases, mashed potatoes or french fries. Yes, two starches with every meal, accompanied by a small assortment of lettuce, onion and tomato with a mostly vinegar and spices dressing, or the dressing might consist of a mixture of catsup and mayo, which is similar in taste to Thousand Island salad dressing. Of course tortillas and beans are also a must.The typical cost of this assortment of food is 80.00 lempiras, or $4 US dollars. The middle to upper class either goes home, or out to a favorite restaurant for the evening.  Average meals at nice restaurants and eateries (also known as comedores) throughout the country of Honduras can range in price from 80.00 lempiras to 400.00 lempiras. Between $4 and $20.00 US Dollars.

As you can see, a typical Honduran can get have a full day of nutrition for about 200 lempiras or $10 US dollars. Thus the famous saying by “back packers” traveling throughout Honduras, that they are on a “$10 a day budget”.

One particular note about Honduras foods; they are not normally spicy hot, although many people love to put ‘hot sauce’ all over everything.

Geographically there is quite a change in cuisine from the west to the east. In the highlands of the central and western provinces, corn is the base for tortillas and most other dishes. The beans favored by pre-Colombian Mexico meet the root crops of South America and, as a result, Honduras boasts more than 20 kinds of tamales, made from steamed cornmeal and filled with meats, beans, vegetables, and chillies. In the eastern lowlands, the staple is rice and cassava root, flavored using pumpkin, plantain, coconut and seafood.

Tapado “olanchano” and tapado “costeño” are beef- and plantain-based soups. Costeño (from the coast) includes cassava, guineo bananas, and coconut, and the more western olanchano is packed with pork ribs and corn. The country being predominantly Catholic, there are days when red meat is off the menu, in which case Hondurans will eat dry fish cakes in soup. A Copán-style pork roast is a must try – succulent whole pig stuffed with spiced corn dough and roasted in special ovens.

Honduran Christmas Traditions – Food

Christmas is not Christmas without Honduran tamales. For those who do not make their own, many women sell tamales at Christmas time, taking orders from friends and neighbors. They are often shared with neighbors or relatives as a gift in the way that those in the U.S. often exchange cookies or other treats at this time of year.

Honduran Tamales

Honduran Tamales – Also known as Nacatamales

Tamales are filled usually with a small chicken piece (including the skin and bones) or sometimes pork and some combination of rice, potatoes, garbanzos, peas, and green olives. Tamales are wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks. Some eat their tamales with ketchup.

Chicken with Rice - Honduran Arroz con Pollo

Chicken with Rice – Honduran Arroz con Pollo

Arroz con pollo (rice with chicken) is another popular holiday celebration meal, as is a similar dish that includes bits of other meats and is called Honduran Chop Suey. Whatever is served absolutely must be accompanied with tamales. No exceptions.

Sandwiches (usually chicken on sliced white bread with mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard) are another popular food during the Christmas holidays. Cake is often served to guests, as is rompopo (eggnog). Red grapes and apples are traditional at Christmas time; the groceries and markets are normally well stocked with these fruits.

Frozen turkeys, canned cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie filling are readily available in the large grocery store chains. At a price, though! Cranberry sauce can go for as much as $1.59 per can up to $2.59 and a medium-sized twelve pound turkey enough for six to eight people can go for 800.00 Lempiras  around $45 US Dollars while a medium thirteen pound bone in ham at 150.00 lempiras a pound  will cost you approximately $100 US Dollars, putting it well out of reach for most families.