Fanesca

Fanesca is a special Ecuadorian soup served only during the week leading up to Easter.  It is an elaborate, rich soup made with 12 different beans & grains (to represent the 12 disciples).  I remember reading a very funny article about Fanesca, written by Calvin Trillin in the New Yorker a number of years ago & as result,  I very much wanted to be able to eat Fanesca while here and my luck was with me.

One of Esperanza's friends invited her and me to eat at her restaurant, which was closed to the public while we ate Fanesca there with her family.  I asked what the ingredients are:  sambo (like zucchini), limeño (like pumpkin), zapallo (also like pumpkin), arvejas (peas), frejoles (beans), choclo (a kind of corn), chochos (a small bean), habas (beans), lentejas (lentils), acchoccha (another kind of bean), arroz (rice), leche (milk), mani (peanuts), cebolla (onion), ajo (garlic).  It was very good.

Floating in the fanesca was 2 fish cakes and a hard boiled egg.

Here is what it looked like before I ate it.  

Here is after!

As if that wasn't enough, we then ate a wonderful and equally filling seafood dish that had conch, calamari, octopus, and sea bass.
Here is the before and after of that dish!: