Typical food of my country

LA LECHONA

Suckling pig is a mixture of chickpeas, pork, spices and occasionally rice (depending on the area) that is often served with an arepa. Traditionally, this mixture of ingredients is cooked slowly for up to 10 hours in a whole roast of pork that infuses all the flavors together and creates a delicious dish.

While Lechona can be found in restaurants throughout Colombia, it is native to the Tolima region, which is southwest of Bogotá and contains the main cities of Ibagué and Espinal.

Ingredients

3 lb diced pork hip

Bacon (For a cushion) 30 x 50 cm

1⁄2 lb of cooked rice with a pinch of color.

1⁄2 lb cooked yellow peas

2 long onion stalks, chopped

8 gr Cumin

Salt to taste

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 sprigs of: Oregano, thyme, bay leaf

Grated nutmeg

Thread

20pc white arepa

PROCESS

In advance, season the pork hip cubes, with the herbs: oregano, thyme and bay leaf, plus the other spices: nutmeg, cumin, pepper, 2 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper, minimum for 1 hour.

Besides we mix the cooked rice and the cooked peas, the long onion fried with the garlic and a little cumin, thyme and oregano, mix well, and finally we add the pork, we reserve. Then we fix the bacon, remove parts of fat from the thickest areas of the cushion, achieving a uniform layer of fat of approximately 1 cm, rub it with salt and a little cumin and. We reserve.

To assemble the suckling pig, we extend the cushion and place the filling in the center, distributing it horizontally in the center, leaving 4 cm of margin on each side. We cover the filling with the layers of bacon wrapping firmly, with the help of the needle and thread we cook the ends of the cushion, obtaining a kind of cylinder.

We place it on a baking tray and bake at 180 ° C for 60 minutes, until the bacon cooks and inflates its skin layer and is golden, at this point we lower the temperature to 150 ° C so that we finish a even cooking of the whole cushion x 45 minutes more.

We remove the thread and serve the cushion on a tray in the center of the table and accompany with arepas without salt.