Cooking with Chayote in Costa Rica

Chopping and chopping

A vegetable in the squash family, chayote (chay-yoh-tay) as it is called in Costa Rica, has many names - cho cho or chou chou in Jamaica, mirliton in Louisiana, chow chow in India, etc.

Inside - remove the seed

On my first visit to Heredia, Costa Rica in 2016, my B&B host, José, prepared a picadillo de chayote for breakfast one day, accompanied by tortillas and the usual fresh fruits, fresh squeezed juices, and homemade breads. He told me that Costa Ricans consider chayote to be a good food for dieting, due to its many health benefits and high water content. I found it to be incredibly delectable and memorable. So when my son mentioned that he often cooks and eats a picadillo de chayote here in Costa Rica, I asked him to make it for me.

More chopping

There are a multitude of recipes for this dish available on the internet. Most use ground beef, corn, and some also include bacon. It is sometimes described as a vegetable hash, but it seems you can personalize it in many ways.

Three chopped chayotes

On my first night of this visit, my son and his wife prepared a mouthwatering meal that involved chopping/mincing a huge pile of vegetables, including chayote, carrots, red onion, and celery. This mixture was added to browned, ground chicken and seasoned with turmeric, chile dulce, chile panamania, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Then it was sauteed into a mass of aromatic deliciousness served over rice.

Finished!

Watching this process convinced me that my son and his wife need a new, sharper knife. I am on a mission to find and buy one for them - maybe today, so we can have more of this appetizing dish during the coming week!

Share your favorite chayote recipes below in the comments!

Plated

Note: This blog post was edited/proofread by my smart daughter-in-law, Crystal Estella Goldman-Babatunde. If you are in need of any writing or editing assistance, she is excellent and charges very reasonable rates.