La Tortilla: Cooking in Antigua

We decided to try our hand at cooking like Guatemalans. Of course, we turned to Google to check out our options. We settled on La Tortilla in Antigua. Reservations were made for Thursday morning at 10:30 for the full menu.

Julio

Julio met us at the door, and as soon as we handed over the cash, we met our teacher, Odilia, and our translator, Anoushka. Odilia, we discovered, is from the south coast of Guatemala. Anoushka, surprisingly, is from Tours, France and just working her way around Central and South America. We were pleased to find out that we were going to be the only students in the class.

Odilia and Anoushka

Our menu was: Atol Blanco, a water and cornflour based beverage; Beet Salad; Guatemalan Rice; Pepían, a traditional Guatemalan stew; Rellenitos, a mashed plantain fritter filled with chocolate and fried; and handmade tortillas.

We did all the prep and cooking under the watchful eye of Odilia. I am not going to give a blow by blow account of the preparation.  However, here are some photo moments captured during out time in the La Tortilla kitchen.

part of our pantry

Odilia giving Randeen some pointers

making the chocolate sauce for the Rellenitos

 forming the Rellentitos

frying the Rellenitos

 Randeen and Odilia mixing the tortilla dough

Odilia handling the tortillas on the comal

proud preparers

 chow time

Rellenitos- filled with chocolate and dipped in chocolate

We had a great time with Odilia and Anoushka. We even have some recipes that we can make at home. Except for the tortillas, they were slightly difficult to form into nice circles.

Another bonus was that I got to speak Spanish to Odilia and Anoushka, and Randeen got to speak French with Anoushka.