“Recuerdame” in Spanish, like a call to remembrance. Nurtured with the cuisine of his native country, Colombia, Juan Arbelaez returns there often, even though he studied gastronomy in Paris. L’xs-Top Chef opened Bazurto, a Colombian restaurant last year and is publishing this month with First “Recuerdame”, a beautiful book between a collection of recipes, a travel diary and family photos.
When he serves you his favorite specialties, the chef brings to your table empanadas, ceviche, chicharronnes with pan de yucca, cassava rolls. If the latter are typical of the country and served, in Colombia, to accompany fried pork belly and confit in its fat, are the other dishes really Colombian? Empenadas, for example, don’t they come from Spain? And isn’t ceviche Peruvian?
Beyond the titles, the recipes are fundamentally different. Empenadas, for example, “this little turnover, crispy on the outside and melting on the inside, is prepared in Colombia with corn flour,” explains Juan Arbelaez. This is what gives the dough “small grains, a long and powerful taste and such a comforting fondant”. And the stuffing? What makes all the difference is two words: triguisar and hogao.
Triguisar, a mixture of spices
“Triguisar is one of the main identity spices of Colombia,” warns Juan Arbelaez. It is in fact a mixture of spices which is not easy to find in France, but which is fortunately “very easy to make at home”, assures the chef. The dosage is as follows: 50 g of cumin powder, 15 g of coriander seeds, 25 g of paprika, 25 g of turmeric, 10 g of salt, 15 g of peppercorns, 15 g of garlic. Combine all the ingredients in a mortar and crush for five minutes using the pestle. “And if you don’t have a mortar, you can mix everything in a blender,” laughs the chef. Once this mixture is obtained, you will be able to move on to the hogao, the other “essential” of Colombian cuisine.
Hogao, the Colombian “ketchup”
“Hogao is the sauce that is used to season 80% of our dishes,” assures Juan Arbelaez. Whether in empanadas, ceviche, slow-cooked beef or scrambled eggs. Tomato, onion and garlic confit in sunflower oil, seasoned with triguisar and panela, caramelized cane sugar juice, make this all-purpose sauce. “Colombian ketchup”, as the chef affectionately calls it.
You can also find it in Juan Arbelaez’s shrimp ceviche. “Unlike Peru, which experienced Japanese immigration, ceviche is prepared with ingredients cooked in Colombia. The texture and flavor of the shellfish pair perfectly with the hogao sauce.
In the pulled meat empanadas, the chef adds coriander and spring onions to the same sauce. And what does that give? Well that changes everything! “The little pillow, crispy on the outside and melting on the inside, becomes so much tastier,” confirms the chef. From evening to morning and during the day in Colombia, you eat this in the street without realizing it because this recipe is so crazy! »