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FijiFlavors · Ambato
Potato tortillas filled with cheese, golden on the griddle and served with chorizo, fried egg, avocado and salad. It is Ambato’s emblematic dish and the one the Ministry of Tourism designates for Tungurahua.
Traditional dish from Ambato, Tungurahua
Also known as: Llapingachos, Llapingacho ambateño
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Llapingacho — Ambato, Ecuador
Llapingachos are mashed potato tortillas filled with cheese and golden on the griddle until they form a crust. In Ambato they are served on the plate with fried chorizo, fried egg, avocado and an onion-and-tomato salad. The city’s cooks favor papa chola, a local potato variety, and Ambato chorizo as the basis of the recipe.
The Ministry of Tourism’s gastronomic map lists llapingachos as the dish of Tungurahua province, and the Ministry itself says the dish’s story begins in Ambato, the capital. In other towns, the llapingacho appears with peanut sauce; in Ambato it usually comes without it.
According to historian Hugo Navas, the name comes from Kichwa: llapin, mashed, and gacho, fried. Potato tortillas were an energy food for field workers and, after the 1949 earthquake, became famous in Ambato thanks to the women who sold them in plazas and on streets.
The Central Market of Ambato is the traditional place to eat them, and some stalls have been kept by the same family for three generations.
Outside Ambato, the dish spread through the highlands and across the country, often served with fritada or other meats.
Ambato , Tungurahua
Emblematic dish of Ambato, designated by the Ministry of Tourism for Tungurahua.
Potato (papa chola) boiled and mashed, fresh cheese, onion and achiote for the tortillas; chorizo, fried egg, avocado and onion-and-tomato salad. Outside Ambato, sometimes peanut sauce.
At lunch, with the tortillas, chorizo and egg on the same plate, eaten with fork and knife.
Year-round, at midday, especially at the Central Market of Ambato.
Your questions
Potato tortillas filled with cheese, golden on the griddle and served with chorizo, fried egg, avocado and salad. It is Ambato’s emblematic dish.
In Ambato, it usually comes without the peanut sauce that appears in other cities of Ecuador.
At the Central Market, the traditional place, where several stalls serve the dish.
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