Locro de Papa

Ecuador — locro de papa is a highland Andean dish associated with Quito and the Sierra region; the potato-and-cheese soup tradition traces to indigenous Andean cooking before European contact

Ecuador's iconic potato-and-cheese soup from the Andean highlands — a thick, golden, creamy broth of white potato cooked with achiote-tinted sautéed onion and garlic, finished with fresh milk and cuajada (fresh white cheese) that is added in cubes just before serving, creating pools of soft, warm cheese through the creamy potato base. Locro de papa is different from Argentinian locro — it is a silky, gold-coloured soup rather than a thick corn-and-meat stew. The characteristic colour (deep saffron-orange) comes from achiote oil used to sauté the base. The potato must be a starchy, floury variety that partially dissolves into the broth, creating natural thickness; waxy potatoes remain intact and produce a thin, broth-like soup.

• The natural-starch-thickened potato soup parallels Irish boxty soup and French vichyssoise; the achiote colour echoes Spanish sofrito-based soups; the fresh-cheese-in-soup concept appears in Mexican sopa de queso and Greek avgolemono (egg-thickened)

Lunch and Sunday food — served in deep bowls with avocado, white corn (mote), and ají; tostado (toasted corn) as a textural garnish; chicha or black coffee alongside; the warming, starchy, dairy-rich combination is highland Andean comfort in a bowl