Seco de Pollo Mas Grande De Todo Del Mundo

This also is coming a little bit late. On Nov. 18, Loja celebrated its Independence Day and Adam's organization CASMUL was hosting a big fundraiser event in Parque Jipiro to raise funds for a center for kids with disabilities. They sold tickets for a typical Ecuadorian dish called Seco de Pollo. When I first heard about the "Seco de Pollo Mas Grande De Todo Del Mundo" (or The Largest Seco de Pollo in the World) I imagined a really large dry chicken. But in reality, it was 2000+ plates of seco de pollo (chicken marinated in sauce) with rice, veggie and mayo salad, and pieces of yucca. There were hundreds of people at this event, along with vendors and entertainment. Adam's organization didn't need us to help out much other than set up some tables and chairs, so we pretty much just showed up, hung out, and ate! Recipe for Seco de Pollo is below!

Exciting vendor stuff like a blow up Winnie the Pooh!

Alex, El Gato de Loja (the term "gato" is used for Ecuadorians with green or blue eyes)- we had seen Alex perform during the Posta Civica too...the young Lojanas LOVE this guy

The long line of hungry customers in front of the blow up Mr. Pollo sign...yes, they were sponsors

Seco de Pollo Recipe
Chicken legs
2 tbs of vegetable oil
1 tbs of tomato sauce
3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 tbs of sugar
1 cup of beer
1/2 onion, chopped
2 tbs of cilantro
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 peeled and chopped tomatoes
Salt, pepper and cumin to taste

Fry the chicken legs in the oil with the onion, garlic and bell pepper. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar and beer. Cook for 25 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, cumin and cilantro. Serve with rice and fried bananas or yucca.