Chorreadas: Costa Rican Corn Pancakes

Las Chorreadas!

 For the next recipe, we decided to "travel" to Costa Rica and make chorreadas! Chorreadas are one of the most culturally significant dishes to Costa Rica, with them commonplace in markets and homes across the country. We also appreciated the ability to make a dish that is a fun twist on the traditional pancakes we are used to (and love!)

Chorreadas are similar to pupusas, though made with masa harina, or corn flour. Since corn was abundant to the native indigenous population in Costa Rica, the origins of chorreadas date back to pre-colonization. The indigenous Costa Ricans would used fresh corn (called elote) as the only ingredient in the cakes, ground by hand to create a pulp. Since then, modern recipes have adapted to include flour or eggs. You can read more about the history of chorreadas here: https://www.196flavors.com/costa-rica-chorreadas/.

We used the recipe at the link above to create our chorreadas. For the most part, it was a process similar to pancakes although a bit more ingredients that allowed it to be customizable. One fun part was experimenting with creating both sweet and savory versions of the dish, as corn is a very versatile base.

We definitely enjoyed the chorreadas, mainly the sweet version. It made a very nice dessert type dish that is a fun spin on pancakes with more flavor and texture. The listed recipe called for a lot of oregano in the savory version, though we felt it was too much and overpowered all other flavors. Nevertheless, it was still nice to try both versions. It was an interesting experience cooking the dough, as it was a bit thicker than traditional US pancakes. We were still able to do some "pancake" art though and made a smiley face in the chorreada, as shown in the picture above!

We had our friend Gema, who is from El Salvador, try the chorreada, and we asked how it compared to some of her traditional dishes. She said it reminded her of pupusas that her parents made her a lot as a child, though the corn flavor was definitely a new addition. Our other friends with no past experience with Costa Rican cuisine enjoyed the dish, and mainly said the similarity to pancakes ended at the style of food (and not the flavor).

One of the most exciting parts of this dish was discovering how many other varieties of pancakes there are around the world. Australia has kaiserschmarrn, Sweden has lussekatter, Hungary has langos, El Salvador has pupusas, and there are so many more. We were intrigued by how so many different cultures adapted similar foods and cooking methods, yet so far separated. The chorreadas were a small step in opening our eyes to the broad world of food out there.