Saturday, August 25, 2007

Sopa de Bolas de Verde

We ate lunch today at a place just outside the entrance to the community here. Off the highway about 30 yards down the dirt road entrance, the restaurant, dirt parking lot, and house on top stand. In front of the house is the restaurant, a large tile patio covered by a round thatched palm roof, typical here. You sit at one of the tables dressed in Christmas table cloths with poinsettias on them. No pretenses here. You can get soda with a straw just long enough to poke out of the bottle top, a liter of beer, or watermelon, pineapple, blackberry, or orange juice with your meal.

They bring you a menu and a dish of silverware, and there's a pad on the table with a pen. You write down what you want, they come pick it up and read it back to you, and then you get served.

To start I ordred the typical Sopa de Bolas, or Plantain Ball Soup. What you get is a large, deep soup bowl with a reddish, fish base stock, made also with ground peanuts or even peanut butter, which gives it a hearty body for such a tropical climate. Today's soup had a big hunk of yuca, a large piece of fresh firm fish-my guess is tuna, one piece of cooked plantain, and of course, the bola, or ball, of plantain. It's about the size of a golf ball, with a heavy, almost chewy texture, like a piece of unrisen but well baked dough. Not a texture I was really familiar with nor would rush to be, but it had its place with the rest of the items. Occasional you will also find a third or so of a cob of corn, but this is really an unusual addition for a coastal food where corn is not grown nor used much in traditional cooking.

This is really a soup that makes a whole meal, as I was barely able to finish off the delicious whole red snapper I ordered to follow, leaving aside the lentils and rice which accompanies almost every dish at the restaurant, and most others in this region.

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