Week 4 - Nicaragua

NACATAMALES

For our first foray into the Americas I really wanted to tackle the Nacatamal, an epic breakfast dish from Nicaragua.  However, after reading through several recipes, it became apparent that this would be a good time to make our first trip out for breakfast.  Lucky for us, Toronto has an excellent Nicaraguan restaurant right downtown....


La Bella Managua, located just a little bit east of Ossington Station on Bloor Street is a great little restaurant that until now had escaped my attention.  The service was friendly, the atmosphere was fun and authentic, and the food was great!  (we weren't the only ones to think so, we caught a glimpse of singer-songwriter Feist dining here during our visit)  But this isn't a restaurant review, let's get on to the breakfast.

Breakfast in Nicaragua most typically wouldn't feature the Nacatamal.   On a day-to-day basis most people have Gallo Pinto - a very popular dish right across Central America made with rice and beans.  The Nacatamal is a dish most often reserved for special occasions like Christmas and the preparation usually involves the whole family and several hours of work.  However it is unique to Nicaragua and has such an interesting combination of flavours that I really wanted to feature it.

What is a Nacatamal?  Basically it's a mash of corn masa topped with various ingredients wrapped in banana or plaintain leaves that's then steamed or pressure cooked for several hours.

When I excitedly opened my Nacatamal I found a dizzing array of ingredients.  Besides the corn masa there was pork, potatoes, tomatoes, rice, bell peppers, capers, olives, raisins and spearmint leaves!  And it was all served with a side of tortillas and a great hot sauce.

The filling was soft and had a strong savoury tomato flavour with a hint of mint.  Although it sounds unusual, the mint really added a great finesse to this dish.  It was such a huge mass of food with so many flavours and textures (something that would've terrified me growing up), but the mint kept it from feeling too heavy and cloying.

Here's the Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:

The Nacatamal features many difficult to find ingredients and takes hours of preparation.

For Degrees of Separation:

For Guestability:






This was a tough one to judge.   It would surely impress, but the extensive preparation needed would make it difficult to serve before lunch.


For Sustainability:

We weren't hungry for hours after this one.

Overall Appeal: 

The Nacatamal and our general experience at La Bella Managua has left me sold on Nicaraguan cuisine.  There were so many unique flavour combinations and the food felt fresh and light despite being exceptionally hearty.  It was a unique breakfast experience to say the least.

Join us next week (same breakfast time, same breakfast url) as we celebrate the Olympics with a breakfast from Greece!