Porotos granados is a traditional

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an countryside stew made mainly of ripe

Cranberry bean The borlotti bean is a variety of common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris'') first bred in Colombia as the ''cargamanto''. It is also known as the cranberry bean, Roman bean, romano bean (not to be confused with the Italian flat bean, a green bean a ...

s, maize kernels and

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. Other common ingredients are

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, and herbs such as cumin,

basil Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also k ...

and oregano. Pumpkin is also used in some recipes. It is considered a summer stew, because that is when the maize and summer squash are harvested in central and southern Chile.

Origins

The

Mapuche people The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

, among others, have cultivated beans since pre-Columbian times and most of its ingredients are native to the Americas. The stew receives its name from its main ingredient, ripe harvested Cranberry (''cargamanto'') beans, originated in Colombia, but also is common among the

Aymara people Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

. The word ''poroto'', unique to Chile, southern

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and

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, originally comes from the

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

word for bean ''purutu''.

Preparation

The most common preparation of porotos granados is the vegetarian version, made by stewing the ingredients in vegetable broth. The original recipe involves fresh picked ripe beans, called pochas in

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. Porotos Granados is sometimes served with Chilean salad, also a summer recipe from the Chilean countryside.

Variations

Although the original version is done with the ''cargamanto'' bean that gives the stew its name, similar stews are prepared with tortola beans, coscorron and bayo beans, the three top bean varieties produced in Chile. Replacing the vegetable broth for chicken or beef broth is not uncommon, and in modern times frozen beans and vegetables are used for convenience. There is also a traditional variation called "''Porotos granados con mazamorra''" where the corn is blended to a paste."Protos granados con Mazamorra"
recipe.

References

{{Cuisine of Chile Chilean cuisine Legume dishes

Origins

Preparation

Variations

See also

References