Chilean Food

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Some fruits and vegetables have different names in Chile than in other countries. I had those foods on the Vocabulary page before, but there were so many other unique dishes that I decided to make a whole page about food. I loved the food while I was in Chile, it makes me hungry everytime I update this page! ¡Provecho!

a lo pobre - served with fried onions and an egg

ají - chili pepper, also a hot chili sauce

ají pebre - green hot chili sauce

anticucho - shish kebab

asado - barbeque

cazuela - soup with a little meat, one potato, one small cob of corn, chunk of zapallo, and other vegetables

chancaca - solid brown sugar

charquicán - mashed potatoes mixed with zapallo, ground beef, porotos, and corn

cochayuyo - brown alga or rockweed; a long tubular seaweed boiled and used like pasta

cocho - harina tostada mixed with hot water or milk and eaten as a hot cereal, ulpo

curanto - clambake

dulce de membrillo - fruit preserves made out of membrillos

empanadas - traditional turnover pie (de horno-baked, frito-fried, de pino-with a meat and onion filling, de queso-cheese, de mariscos-seafood)

ensalada chilena - salad of well rinsed sliced onions, sliced tomatoes, vinegar, oil dressing, cilantro, and salt

estofado - stew

fiambre - lunch meat

guatita - tripe (cow stomach)

harina tostada - toasted flour

huevos a la copa - soft boiled eggs

humitas - mashed corn wrapped in corn husks and steamed

manjar blanco - dulce de leche, sweetened condensed milk boiled until it turns caramel-like

once - "tea time"

parilladas - variety of meats cooked over a charcoal grill

pastel de choclo - similar to a shepherd pie or casserole, made with meat and layer of mashed corn

pastel de papas - similar to pastel de choclo but with a layer of mashed potatoes instead of corn, served with either sugar or salt sprinkled on top, dulce o salado

pino - ground beef with onions

pollo a lo spiedo - rotisserie chicken

puré de papas - mashed potatoes

prieta - blood and onion sausage

ulfe - type of seaweed

Sandwiches & Bread

ave palta - chicken and avocado sandwich

Barros Jarpa - ham and melted cheese sandwich

Barros Luco - steak and cheese sandwich

chacarero - steak and vegetable sandwich

chicharrones - bread with baked in dried pork

churrasco - marinated steak sandwich

completos - a hot dog on a fresh baked roll with tomatoes, sauerkraut- chucrut, avocado, and mayonnaise

hallullas - "pan especial" everyday bread

marraquetas - "pan frances" another type of everyday bread

milcao - Mapuche potato bread

pan amasado - homemade bread

pan candeal - bakery-style yeast bread

pan de pascua - Christmas fruit bread, similar to fruit cake

Fruits & Vegetables

alcayota - melon used to make jam

chirimoya - cherimoya or "custard apple", has a very unique flavor; tastes like a blend of papaya, pineapple and banana

choclo - corn, instead of maíz (choclo is Incan for corn)

damasco - apricot, albaricoque

frutilla - strawberry, instead of fresa

lúcuma - "eggfruit", often used in ice cream, tastes like butterscotch

maní - peanuts, instead of cacahuate

membrillo - quince

mote - special type of whole kernel corn, similar to hominy

níspero - medlar (fruit)

palta - avocado, instead of aguacate

papaya - the chilean papaya is a 5 sided yellow fruit, different from the more common tropical papaya

pepino dulce - sweet fruit-like cucumber, tastes like melon

porotos - beans, instead of frijoles

tuna - prickly pear fruit ( atún= tuna fish)

zapallo - squash, similar to pumpkin

Desserts & Pastries

alfajores - pastry filled with manjar and covered in either coconut or chocolate

berlin - jelly-filled donut

borrachitos - liquor filled pastry

cabritas - popcorn, palomitas de maíz

cachos - horn shaped pastry filled with manjar

calzones rotos - fried pastry, (literally "ripped underwear")

chilenitos - pastry similar to alfajores, but covered with powdered sugar

churro - donut-like pastry rolled into a cylinder filled with manjar

cuchufli - tubular pastry filled with manjar

küchen - type of german pastry

mil hojas - multi-layered pastry or tort with manjar

panqueque - rolled crepe filled with manjar or jam

picarón - ring-shaped cruller or friter

sopaipilla - type of flat scone made with zapallo

sopaipillas pasadas - sopaipillas covered with a sweet syrupy sauce made from chancaca, traditionally made on rainy days

Beverages

aguardiente - liquor, apiado-liquor in which celery has been left to steep, guindado- liquor in which cherries have been left to steep

agüita - herbal tea, té de hierbas, agua monte

bebida - soda pop, instead of gaseosa or refresco

chicha - fermented fruit juice

cola de mono - alcoholic drink made with milk, coffee, cinnamon or vanilla, and pisco

hierba mate - herb used in a hot drink, traditionally it is put into a gourd called a mate and drunk with a filtered straw

leche con plátano - milk mixed with a fresh banana

mote con huesillos - traditional chilean drink made from mote and huesillos(huesillos are literally "little bones" but they're just dried peaches

ponche - alcoholic drink made of wine and peaches in cubes

pisco - Chilean liquor made from distilling grape juice

pisco sour - pisco with lemon juice

Seafood

almejas - clams

calamares - squid

camarones - shrimp

camarones grandes - prawns, gambas

centolla - Patagonian king crab

erizos - sea urchins

jaiva - crab, cangrejo

locos - different species of abalone

machas - razor clams

mejiones - mussels

ostiones - oysters

piure - a kind of shellfish (puré = mashed potatoes)

pulpo - octopus

Fish

albacora - swordfish

caldillo congrio - soup with conger, onions, and potatoes

cojinova - Spanish hake

congrio - conger eel

corvina - deep-water fish, similar to Atlantic sea bass

lenguado - sole

pejerreyes - small fish similar to Arctic Norwegian whiting, sometimes called smelt

salmón - salmon

trucha - freshwater trout

Hungry for more? Some of the information on this page can be found in the book "Three Generations of Chilean Cuisine" by Mirtha Umaña-Murray. It's an excellent book that has a lot of great recipes and other miscellaneous information about Chilean food. I highly recommend it. The recipes are authentic recreations using ingredients easily found in the United States. It has the best empanada recipe that I have found since I've been back in the States!

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You can now buy Chilean Food products at Tu Chile Aqui

www.TuChileAqui.com