SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This summer, we get to sample some spectacular breakfasts with NPR's international correspondents. Carrie Kahn brings us this report from Ecuador, where tigrillo is a favorite morning dish.
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CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: For the past 45 years, Rosa Casa (ph) has been serving up all types of Ecuadorian breakfast at her family's outdoor kitchen in front of the capital's Inaquito Market.
ROSA CASA: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "But the bestseller by far," she says, "tigrillo." It's a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs, keep-you-full-all-day dish centered around raw, large green plantains boiled soft, mashed up and fried.
CASA: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "I add the eggs and the cheese and a bunch of seasoning," says Casa, "along with some fried pork rinds or bacon." That's way too many additions for traditional tigrillo, says Quito food blogger Gabriela Valarezo.
GABRIELA VALAREZO: It may be, like, really tasty and delicious. But for me, like, tigrillo should be simple. Keep it simple and with good-quality ingredients.
KAHN: We head into the public market to get the basics - green plantains, eggs and cheese.
Wait. Why little tiger?
VALAREZO: (Laughter).
KAHN: Tigrillo means little tiger.
VALAREZO: Sure. So baby tiger. It's because, you know, green plantain has these black spots.
KAHN: And when cooked, the dish has an orangish hue with flecks of black, like tigers. Good raw green plantains, though, are key.
VALAREZO: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED VENDOR: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: We buy six from a seller's amazing array of bananas. Some 300 varieties are grown in Ecuador.
UNIDENTIFIED VENDOR: (Speaking Spanish).
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KAHN: Next, we grab some eggs and fresh salty cheese and head to a friend's apartment to cook up the dish.
(CROSSTALK)
KAHN: Hola. Carrie.
SANTIAGO ROSERO: Nice to meet you.
KAHN: (Laughter).
ROSERO: Santiago.
KAHN: Santiago Rosero is a foodie, a journalist and a cook. He says we first have to decide how to soften our verdes - the green bananas - fried or boiled.
ROSERO: Boiled, I think. Yeah. It's healthier.
KAHN: A large pot of water heats up as he peels away the thick green skins. He cuts the pale yellow flesh into chunks. It takes about 10 minutes on the stove to soften them up. But not too much, he warns.
ROSERO: You don't have to get it to a puree. No.
KAHN: You don't want it to be too much heat?
ROSERO: No.
KAHN: Then comes the mashing, which you can do with the bottom of a bottle.
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KAHN: Once cool, we all join in and form small chunks of the softened plantain. Rosero heats some butter in a skillet, cracks a few eggs and starts stirring in the fresh cheese and chunks of plantain.
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KAHN: Some starchy water reserved from boiling the plantains helps form a creamier texture. A little more cheese, more stirring, salt and pepper, and breakfast is served.
VALAREZO: (Speaking Spanish).
ROSERO: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: (Speaking Spanish).
We dig in. Our cook, Rosero, drizzles on spicy aji sauce to his.
ROSERO: (Laughter).
KAHN: Wow. That's good.
Food blogger Valerezo also approves.
VALAREZO: It tastes like home to me (laughter).
KAHN: Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Quito, Ecuador.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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