However, there are also lots of popular traditional dishes too! Let me tell you about my favorite!
One of my favorite traditional foods here in Ecuador actually originated from the city where I live, Ambato! The dish is called llapingachos (pronounced yap-ing-gachos).
When I eat really yummy food, I always want to cry tears of joy. The first time I ate llapingachos, I think I ate my whole plate in under five minutes. They are very greasy and oily, so it is a meal for special occasions only. So, only once a month, I walk from my house to the center market and buy a plate of llapingachos with coconut and blackberry juice from a very kind woman named Susy. The whole meal only costs me $3.50.
Llapingachos are very delicious potato pancakes made with cheese. Potatoes are boiled until they are soft, and then they're grated with a soft cheese called queso fresco. The potatoes and cheese are molded into little pancakes and fried in oil or animal fat. They taste like a soft hashbrown.
The potato pancakes on their own are called tortillas de papa (papa means "potatoes" in Spanish).
