Vegetarian recipes from Chile

Meatless Chilean cooking is organised around two old resources, maize and the potato, the latter domesticated in the Chiloe archipelago, and around the bean, which shapes the summer meal. Porotos granados is its fullest form: fresh shelled beans, squash and maize cooked together until the squash melts and thickens the pot, with basil added at the end. This pairing of bean, squash and maize is the base of central Chilean farm cooking, and it stands as a complete meal on its own. Mild chilli paste, cumin and dried oregano round out a seasoning that stays deliberately restrained.

Potato is grated and pressed as often as simply boiled: the milcao of Chiloe mixes raw grated potato with cooked mashed potato, then cooks the cake in a pan or under the embers. Frying holds its own place, in savoury pumpkin sopaipillas sold in the street and in sweet calzones rotos. Alongside them, ensalada chilena is the fixed accompaniment: tomato, onion rinsed to take off its bite, coriander and oil. It appears on almost every summer table, served apart rather than mixed into the main dish.