i have probably mentioned aceite de achiote in a few of my recipes by now. so i've finally gotten around to actually explaining what that means! i'd never heard of it until i went to ecuador. but perhaps you have heard of annatto seed? so, what i have been calling "achiote oil" is spanglish. it would be aceite de achiote in spanish, or annatto oil in english. i also see how this might be confusing...i'm not talking about oil from the annatto seed, but rather vegetable oil that has been infused with the annatto color and flavor.
in ecuador i was surprised to see that a lot of the cooking oil in peoples homes was bright red. after some research (read the label and translated it) i discovered that people were using annatto oil. interestingly enough, annatto seed doesn't have a very strong flavor (it definitely has its own smell that i can recognize by now though) but does give a glorious bright red color to everything. also, my host mom told me it helps counteract the unmentionable intestinal side effects of eating beans. yay! but yes, why are llapingachos bright orange? the answer would be this oil!
when i got back to boston i was dismayed to discover that aceite de achiote is basically impossible to buy even though annatto seed isn't ("ethnic" aisle). after communicating this to my mother she made me my first batch! its actually really easy and now i will teach you how to do it!
aceite de achiote.
ingredients.
2 c vegetable oil
1 c annatto seeds
(want to make more? want to make less? thats a 2:1 ratio kids!)
directions.
1. place oil in a heavy saucepan and heat to about 350F.
2. add annatto seeds and remove pan from heat.
3. allow to cool and strain oil into a glass jar.
4. store in the fridge.
i would show you guys a photo but my jar is pretty gross looking at the moment (had some renegade oil cover the outside forever). next time i make it i'll try to remember to put a photo on here!
I left my seeds in Penn-syl-vane-yuh
ReplyDeleteIsn't that how the song goes?
No Meem it's my heart in sanfrancisco!
So I went to the Latin market on Friday to get tamales for Christmas Eve dinner and they had aciete de achiote all over the place. And in little dried bouillon type packets, too. Which I normally wouldn't have noticed, but I had read this post earlier and it was still in my mind. Decided to make my rise with some of the packet that we had at home. Tasty, indeed. Does homemade taste any different than prepared, anyhow? Just curious. Happy Monday. Happy Christmas and New Years too.
ReplyDeleteoh wow i wish i had a market like that! got tons of asian ones really close to me and i'm sure if i ventured slightly farther i could find one, but still. anyways, i had never noticed a difference in what i make versus what i had in ecuador. the flavor is so subtle anyways though i wonder if i would be able to tell. i've never heard of the packets though. (it wouldnt surprise me if i someone in ecuador cooked something for me at some point with them though!)
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